While the U.S. labor market remains strong overall and again exceeded expectations in February, New York reported a sharp surge in the number of citizens seeking unemployment insurance this week as shops, restaurants, and retail outlets closed in efforts to contain the CCP virus.
The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.
“We are seeing a spike in volume that is comparable to post 9/11 but make no mistake, anyone entitled to these benefits is going to receive them in a timely manner,” said Cohen, according to the statement.
While much of the increase in jobless claims may have been due to businesses scaling back or shutting down operations, the figures may also have been influenced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s move on Saturday to waive the normal seven-day waiting period for unemployment insurance for people out of work due to the virus pandemic. This measure meant that applicants from an entire week all became eligible to apply on Saturday, with phone lines understandably busy when they opened on Monday morning.
It is also possible that many New Yorkers who wished to apply for unemployment insurance were simply heeding Cuomo’s “Stay Home, Stop the Spread” message by applying online and via telephone instead of in person at their local career center. This option also vanished on Monday, however, as the New York Department of Labor announced that all in-person appointments Career Centers across New York State had been canceled until further notice.
Employment Figures Remain Strong
Businesses continued hiring apace in February, with nonfarm payroll employment increasing by 273,000 to put the economy in a strong position as the CCP virus broke out. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages continued to grow in February while the unemployment rate declined to a 50-year low of just over 3.5 percent, with female unemployment reaching a 66-year low of 3.4 percent.According to the Bureau, “Notable job gains occurred in health care and social assistance, food services and drinking places, government, construction, professional and technical services, and financial activities.”
Increases in nonfarm payrolls of 273,000 jobs across the United States last month may also have been due to unseasonably mild weather in February, which was a boon to weather-sensitive industries. Construction added 42,000 jobs last month on top of the 49,000 added in January. However, February payrolls in the transportation and warehousing sectors declined by 4,000 jobs in February.
“The blue collar boom continued in February,“ Scalia added, ”with private sector wages growing 3 percent year-over-year, and production and non-supervisory workers’ wages increased even faster than managers’. February marks the 19th consecutive month that wages grew at or above 3 percent.”
However, the most recent reports do not yet capture the effect of the CCP virus, which began to spread in the United States in late February.
“Sadly, these job numbers are sure to be eclipsed by response to the spread of the coronavirus,” economist Michael Hicks from Ball State University told The New York Times. “The supply shocks from quarantined factories in Asia are weeks away from idling U.S. factories, and the demand-side impact on tourism, travel, eating and drinking establishments is already being felt across the world.” Hicks said he believes the March jobs report will be far less optimistic.
The Fed cut interest rates to near zero before financial markets opened this week in an effort to stave off the worst of the virus’s effect on the economy.
Measures to Alleviate Unemployment
The U.S. Department of Labor moved on Thursday to grant states the flexibility to amend their laws as necessary to provide unemployment assistance to limit the effects of the virus. States can pay unemployment benefits in the case of virus-related temporary unemployment, as well as to those placed in quarantine and those who are forced to leave their employment because of the risk of infection or to care for family members.Retail, Restaurants Hit Hard
According to Bloomberg, foot traffic to retail outlets has declined by almost a third last week, as measured by location-data specialists Prodco Analytics.Retailers are now likely to see further reductions across the United States, and many major outlets including Nike, Ralph Lauren, Apple, and Abercrombie & Fitch have decided to temporarily close their U.S. stores until the end of March.
Purchases have also tended toward essential items including groceries, sanitary products, and sanitizing materials and away from clothes, leaving apparel outlets in particular feeling the pinch.
However, positive employment news was also to be found this week, with Amazon announcing 100,000 new jobs to fulfill increased order books, with more consumers electing to purchase online in recent weeks.
“We also know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants, and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis. We want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back.”
New York State Department of Labor also tweeted that it was seeking “to immediately hire 59 hourly Senior Employment Security Clerks in our Albany and Endicott offices to help process Unemployment Insurance claims.”
