State unemployment Benefits Rose to 778,000

12/1/2020

778,000

The number of Americans filing new claims for state unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 778000 in the week ending November 21– a sign the economic recovery is bogging down, the Labor Department reported. The figure was an increase of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised level. Continuing claims, which track the aggregate total of Americans applied for unemployment benefits through regular state programs fell by 299,000 to 6.07 million. Furthermore, for the week ending November 21, 51 states reported 311,675 workers applied for PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance), a program for the self-employed and gig workers, the report shows. However, unemployment claims are moving in the wrong direction, analysts with Oxford Economics said in a report.

6.1%

Black unemployment climbed to the highest — nearly double the white unemployment rate and facing slower recovery, according to the U.S Department of Labor. The jobless rate for Blacks who has just a bachelor’s degree was 6.1% — a point higher than 4.8% unemployment rate for white workers with just a bachelor’s degree. While, the unemployment rate for black workers who have high-school diploma was 12.1%, above the 7.4% rate for similar white workers, and above the 10.1% rate for white high-school dropouts, the report shows. The gap in the U.S. jobless rate between whites and Blacks increased this year. In October, the jobless rate for whites who has a bachelor’s degree was 1.2% points lower than for Black grads. For those with just high-school diplomas, the gap was 4.7%, the WSJ reported.

57.9

The U.S. economy continuing to see improvement from the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S business activity, which covers both the services and manufacturing sectors — increased to 57.9 in November from 56.3 in the previous month. The rate of growth was the sharpest since March 2015, data firm IHS Markit reported. The services index, meanwhile, rose to 57.7 in November, rising from 56.9 in October — the strongest expansion in output since April 2015. New order growth was the strongest since June 2018, largely driven by an overall boost in activity for both goods producers and manufacturers, while business confidence also improved, the IHS Markit survey found.

$400B

The U.S. government could lose greater than $400 billion from its student loan program, the WSJ reported. Of the nearly $1.4 trillion in federal student loans issued by the U.S. government, borrowers are likely to pay back $935 billion in principal and interest on their student loans — that would leave taxpayers on the hook for $435 billion, according to analysis consultants performed for the Department of Education. Most of the losses would come from the already established income-based repayment programs and loan-forgiveness plans, the study found. By comparison, private lenders lost $535 billion on subprime-mortgage loans–just 23% more than the U.S. federal government is now projected to lose from its “toxic” student loan debt, said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

0.5%

U.S. consumer spending increased 0.5% in October, following a 1.2% rise in September, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported. It marked the sixth straight month of gain but the smallest since April. Household income fell sharply 0.7% in October, reversing a 0.7% gain in September and slightly beating market forecasts of 0.4 percent. The figure is a larger decrease than forecast mainly led by a decrease in government social benefits. Disposable personal income also fell by 0.8%, according to WSJ. The October report shows that retail sales rose 0.3%. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales advanced 0.1% after a downwardly revised 0.9% increase in September, according to CNBC.

$500B

The United States Travel Association (USTA) said that travel spending is expected to decline by more than $500 billion this year. Furthermore, it’s not anticipated that the industry will recover back to 2019 levels until at least 2024. The primary cause of this is “prolonged recovery” in business travel, the USTA reported. The group forecast that travel industry has lost nearly 40%, or 3.5 million this year — that’s 40% of the industry’s total workforce, and warned another 1 million jobs could be lost without additional government relief is not passed by year-end. The analysis covers many different companies that provide travel-related services, including hotels, restaurants, airlines, etc. The U.S. Travel Association projects spending in 2019 will be $617 billion, down from its July forecast of $622 billion, compared with $1.13 trillion in 2019.

463

Meanwhile, we have a new Guinness World Record. A man in the US named David Rush has made a new world record by 463 juggling catches while climbing onto a unicycle blindfolded. Earlier, Rush had set the blindfolded unicycle juggling record at 30 catches but it was soon broken by Jeremy Walker, who was successful in catching balls 70 times before dropping a ball or losing his balance. The entire attempt lasted 1 minute and 6 seconds, Rush said. He has broken more than 150 Guinness records for juggling, balancing, and many more with a mission to promote STEM, according to the UPI