Economic and Coronavirus situation in the United States

Economic and Coronavirus situation in the United States

The United States continues to grapple with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, the number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits rose more than forecasted.

For the week ending on July 11, Initial weekly jobless claims came in at 1.3 million. That is what the Labor Department said on Thursday. Dow Jones polled Economists, and they forecasted 1.25 million.

Also, it was the 17th straight week in which initial claims totaled at least 1 million. Moreover, since later March, initial claims had risen by more than 51 million, when it peaked at 6.867 million. Also, last week marked the 15th straight weekly decline in initial claims.

Continuing claims refer to those receiving benefits for at least two straight weeks. As such, the continuing claims totaled 17.33 million for the week of July. That is what the department said in the report on Thursday. From the previous release, that reflects a drop of 422,000.

The United States

Michael Pearce works at Capital Economics. He is a senior United States economist there. Pearce said in a note that there are clear signs that the longer-term damage is starting to mount. At the same time, permanent layoffs are beginning to climb. Moreover, the flow of workers from employment to unemployment has still elevated. The need for ongoing physical distancing will prevent a full recovery when the vaccine is absent.

The United States struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Thus, this is why they have staggering unemployment numbers. The outbreak is particularly notable in states like Arizona, Texas, California, and Florida. According to Johns Hopkins University, nearly 3.5 million cases have been confirmed in the United States.

Governor Greg Abbott in Texas joined a growing number of governors requiring people to wear masks in public. Florida faces an ICU bed shortage. Arizona has set a record for hospital beds being in use. Recently, California reversed some of its reopening measures during another spike in cases of COVID.