The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy, held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic, reopens rapidly.
Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of people signing up for benefits exceeded 900,000 in early January and has fallen more or less steadily ever since. Still, claims are high by historic standards. Before the pandemic brought economic activity to a near-standstill in March 2020, weekly applications were regularly coming in below 220,000.
Nearly 3.5 million people were receiving traditional state unemployment benefits the week of May 29, down by 258,000 from 3.8 million the week before.
Businesses are reopening rapidly as the rollout of vaccines allows Americans to feel more comfortable returning to restaurants, bars and shops. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings hit a record 9.3 million in April. Layoffs dropped to 1.4 million, lowest in records dating back to 2000; 4 million quit their jobs in April, another record and a sign that they are confident enough in their prospects to try something new.
“As life normalizes and the service sector continues to gain momentum, we expect initial jobless claims to continue to trend lower,″ said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at the economic and financial consulting firm Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Inc.
In May, the U.S. economy generated 559,000 million new jobs, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8% from 6.1% in April. Many economists expected to see even faster job growth. The United States is still short 7.6 million jobs from where it stood in February 2020.
But employers are posting vacancies faster than would-be applicants can fill them. Many Americans are contending with health and childcare issues related to COVID-19 and with career uncertainty after the coronavirus recession wiped out many jobs for good. Some are taking their time looking for work because expanded federal jobless benefits pay more than their old jobs.
Many states are scheduled to begin dropping the federal benefits this month. Altogether, 15.3 million people were receiving some type of jobless aid the week of May 22; a year earlier, the number exceeded 30 million.
eToro, the social trading platform that offers crypto, forex, and equities, recently announced that it's giving U.S. users the option to include stocks and ETFs as part of their investment portfolios. Lule Demmissie, CEO of eToro U.S., joined Cheddar to talk about the company’s expanded offerings. "We felt, although crypto is a fantastic asset class, that individuals benefit from having a broader access to different kinds of investments, and equities is definitely one of them," Demmissie noted.
Coming off of CES, Blink Charging announced a partnership with legacy automaker General Motors to provide charging stations for its newest electric cars. The company specializes in stations they own and operate that also accommodate residential and commercial locations. Michael D. Farkas, founder and CEO, noted that they "don’t discriminate” when it comes to locating their chargers while also taking the philosophy of seeing their hardware more like hot water heaters rather than smartphones constantly in need of upgrading. "We believe it's one of the reasons why we were selected by GM," Farkas said. "These dealerships have to invest in these locations and make sure that this hardware is workable for a very, very long period of time."
Simeon Siegel, managing director and senior analyst at BMO Capital Markets joins Cheddar News to discuss CNBC's report that Peloton plans to halt production, despite the company's CEO denying those claims.
Mona Zhang, states cannabis policy reporter at POLITICO Pro joins Cheddar News to discuss major factors that caused Canada's retail marijuana sales to drop last year.
Jackie Rotman, founder and CEO of the Center for Intimacy Justice joins Cheddar News to talk about why Facebook is banning ads by companies targeting women's sexual health but not ads catered to men.
TikTok recently announced that it is testing a paid subscription model. The news comes days after Instagram publicized a similar service. TikTok has made $2.3 billion from in-app purchases, but mostly through tips, in 2021, showing that its users may be open to spending money on the platform.
The NCAA voted to streamline their constitution at their annual convention on Thursday. Each of the three college divisions can decide how student-athletes can make money from outside sources but still restricts schools from directly paying its players.
Netflix beat its earnings projections for Q4 — but the stock still plummeted as the streaming pioneer cut back on its forecast for future subscribers. Michael Robinson, the chief technology strategist at Money Map Press, joined Cheddar to discuss the report and what's driving the downward pressure on its shares. "It's the growth is really what's worrying people," he said. "'A' we have slowing economic growth, and 'B' we've got slowing growth for this company, as 'C' we have an increase in competition."
