With the U.S. economy still shattered by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to bring it under control, U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia attempted to paint a rosy picture with a statement released this morning commenting on both today’s new jobs and new unemployment insurance claims reports.
“Today”™s report shows much higher job creation and lower unemployment than expected, reflecting that the reopening of the economy in May was earlier, and more robust, than projected,” Scalia said.
“Millions of Americans are still out of work and the department remains focused on bringing Americans safely back to work and helping states deliver unemployment benefits to those who need them. However, it appears the worst of the coronavirus”™s impact on the nation”™s job markets is behind us.”
While the Department of Labor’s jobs report for June showed that nonfarm jobs rose by 4.8 million in June, the survey resulting in that number was taken during the middle of the month, before the latest wave of economic shutdowns went into effect in a number of states where the epidemic is intensifying. The unemployment rate was given as 11.1%. Before the pandemic, the government had reported it as around 3.5%.
In a news conference this morning at the White House, President Trump took credit for the job numbers. “These are numbers that are not numbers other presidents would have,” Trump said.
At the same time, the Department of Labor’s report on initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending June 27 showed essentially the same level as did last week’s report, with 1,427,000 new claims, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week. That brings to approximately 47 million the number of workers who have filed for unemployment benefits as a direct result of the pandemic’s effects.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed by former federal civilian employees totaled 1,599 in the week ending June 20, a decrease of 97 from the prior week. There were 1,196 initial claims filed by newly discharged veterans, an increase of 2 from the preceding week.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending June 13 were in: Puerto Rico, 23%; Nevada, 21.4%; Hawaii, 21.3%; the Virgin Islands, 17.8%; New York, 17.5%; California ,16%; Louisiana, 15.9%; Massachusetts, 15.9%; Georgia, 15.3%; and Connecticut, 15.2%.
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 20 were in: California, up 43,070; Maryland, up 9,099; Florida, up 7,535; New Jersey, up 6,589; and Indiana, up 5,314.
The largest decreases were in: Oklahoma, down 26,166; Kentucky, down 12,804; Oregon, down 8,371; Georgia, down 6,272; and New York, down 6,119.
Connecticut had 10,053 new claims filed during the week ending June 27, down 358 from the previous week’s 10,441.
New York had 90,323 new claims filed during the week ending June 27, up 1,292 from the previous week’s 89,031.
