When Biden took office, one of his first acts was the elimination of our border security. Like a power-hungry dictator, Biden simply decided to ignore our immigration laws. His catastrophic border policy resulted in untold millions of unidentified foreign citizens from around the world pouring into our country. Its impact is now being felt in cities across the country. The worst is yet to come. PETER LEMISKA - AND WE'RE ALREADY THERE!!!
Friday, May 8, 2020
AMERICA'S JOBS CRISIS AS TRUMP VOWS TO PROTECT WALL STREET BANKSTERS AND CRONIES
Dental offices have been hit particularly hard. Photo: Ulrich Baumgarten/U. Baumgarten via Getty Images
In March, American dental offices employed 959,000 workers. By April, 503,000 of those workers had lost their jobs, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The April jobs report is a bloodbath, with 20.5 million payroll jobs — over 13 percent of all the jobs in America — lost in a single month. (And the report only took stock of the employment picture as of mid-April, so it didn’t capture the ongoing job loss since then.) But the effects across the economy are highly uneven. Employment in some industries was decimated, while other areas saw much more-modest declines. One major industry — general-merchandise retailers, like Walmart and Costco — actually gained employment. Workers’ average hourly earnings rose to $30.01 last month, a nearly 5 percent increase over a month earlier, which is not the good news it sounds like. This increase mostly reflects the fact that employees who lost jobs were disproportionately lower-paid, meaning the average wage of people who still have jobs went up.
The worst job losses hit in sectors where you might expect. Leisure and hospitality services accounted for about three-eighths of the total carnage, losing 7.6 million out of a previous 16.4 million jobs. These losses were spread across subsectors: About 40 percent of jobs in accommodation vanished, along with 40 percent in performing arts and sports, nearly half at eating and drinking places and 60 percent in amusement, gambling, and recreation. Museums and historical sites held up better, losing only a quarter of employment.
The “personal and laundry services” sector lost approximately 800,000 of its 1.5 million jobs. The largest occupational category within this sector is hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists.
About 13.5 percent of jobs in retail trade disappeared last month, in line with job loss across the broader economy. But if you look at employment within retail subsectors, you can see what parts of the consumer economy remain robust and which are largely shut down. Nearly 60 percent of jobs at clothing and clothing-accessories stores were lost in April, along with almost half at furniture and home-furnishing stores and more than a third at sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores. On the other hand, even as Americans stayed home and drove many fewer miles, gas stations stayed open and only cut 5 percent of jobs. Electronic-store employment also fell about 5 percent — people increasingly staying at home had little reason to buy clothing, but they needed electronics for home-office setups and/or entertainment — and food-and-beverage-store employment fell 1 percent. Employment at general-merchandise retailers rose 5 percent.
Similarly, within the health-care sector, the report tells us which economic activities are still going forward and which are being postponed. Dental offices, as I noted, cut more than half of their jobs because nonurgent medical procedures are being postponed across the country and most dental-office activity is not urgent. (I, personally, was scheduled for a dental cleaning in March, which I do not expect to have done very soon.) Physicians’ offices are less disrupted than dentists’ offices, but they still cut nearly 10 percent of jobs. Even hospitals cut employment by almost 3 percent, as they canceled elective surgeries and faced a cash crunch related to the loss of income from those elective surgeries.
As grim as this report is, it was apparently less grim than many market participants feared, and so the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up more than 200 points following its release. The biggest question about the report is what’s going to happen to all the workers who lost jobs as the economy begins to reopen and return toward normal. The optimistic scenario is that reopening the economy will look like reopening a summer resort town in the late spring: Everything has been boarded up for a few months, and yet the workers and the managers and the customers come back on schedule and things look pretty much like they did a year ago. Many of the newly jobless workers are on furlough from their prior employers — in some cases, as with workers furloughed from Macy’s and Disney, even still receiving health benefits from those employers — so they have a clear destination to return to. And the government has taken extensive steps to ensure that economic participants will have the financial resources to consume once they feel it is safe to do so. While states’ issuance of unemployment checks has been slow-going, it’s getting better, and the enhancement of unemployment in the CARES Act means many households, especially at the lower end of the income spectrum, will see more than 100 percent of their income lost in the crisis replaced, putting them in a relatively strong position to go out and consume again once there are more goods and services to buy safely, if they are able to get their jobs back in the next few months.
But just because some governments begin allowing businesses to reopen, it does not mean those businesses will have access to the workers and customers they need for reopening to make financial sense. Businesses that do return are likely to do so gradually, with limited staffing to align with limited customer demand and/or capacity constraints that are necessary to comply with virus-mitigation measures. And if jurisdictions reopen without truly having the coronavirus under sufficient control — or even if they are simply unlucky — the attempt at getting back to normalcy may not take, with customers and workers being too fearful to come out and governments needing to reimpose restrictions that were once lifted. The longer reopening takes, the more likely it is that businesses or workers will make the choice that it is better to sever the employment relationship and look toward new options than to wait and try to restart what they were doing before. And that will require a slow and economically costly process of re-matching between workers and businesspeople, involving new relationships and possibly new skills. Most problematically, many firms are likely to be unable to persist financially through this crisis and therefore won’t reopen even if there would be plenty of demand for their products and services when conditions are better. Workers at those firms will need to find new jobs, which may be a slow and difficult process.
Another worrying sign in this jobs report is a significant loss in state and local government employment. Unlike the federal government, states and localities generally cannot run significant budget deficits. Coronavirus-relief legislation has provided extensive funding to states to compensate them for costs associated with fighting the virus but has not materially addressed the severe losses of tax revenues that they face as workers lose income (and pay less income tax) and consumers shop less (and pay less sales tax). States and localities have been waiting and hoping for additional federal aid to smooth out these losses and save them from needing to sharply cut back on public services and lay off many more workers. If that aid is not forthcoming, there will be another shoe to drop: much more severe job losses in the public sector, which will further crimp consumer demand and slow the recovery of the private sector.
Nearly Half of Americans Are Out of Work as Employment-Population Ratio Crashes to Lowest Level Ever
A smaller share of American adults were employed in April than ever before in records going back to 1948.
The employment-population ratio, which measures the share of Americans above the age of 16 who are employed, fell to 51.3 percent, the Department of Labor said Friday. A year ago, it was 60.6 percent.
The previous low was 55 percent in the summer of 1954.
In November 2007, the employment-population ratio was 62.9 percent. This rate fell consistently during the subsequent recession and several months beyond, before stabilizing around 58.5 percent in October 2009. Between October 2009 and March 2014, the ratio remained stubbornly low, fluctuating within 0.3 percentage points of 58.5 percent. It began to climb again in 2014, hitting its post-2008 peak of 61.1 in February of 2020.
The unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April and the economy shed 20.5 million jobs, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Friday.
Over the past seven weeks, more than 33 million Americans have filed claims for unemployment benefits. But the number of claims has been declining for five consecutive weeks.
The Trump administration successfully pushed Congress to authorize direct payments to U.S. households to support incomes and to raise the amount paid by unemployment benefits by $600 a week, making it possible for some Americans to earn more through losing a job than they made working. The federal government is also backing over $600 billion of loans to small businesses that can be forgiven if those businesses avoid layoffs.
The Fed cuts its interest rate target to a range between 0 and 0.25 percent. In addition, it is in the process of launching a number of new lending facilities aimed at providing liquidity to struggling businesses.
But loans and direct payments can only go so far to offset orders that many businesses close their doors entirely or dramatically reduce the number of customers they serve. The customers were told to stay at home and avoid going out except to purchase essential items. Bars, theaters, and gyms were shuttered in much of the country. Restaurants were required to close dining rooms, remaining open only for take-out and delivery. Manufacturers often had to shut down altogether, including the plants of most automakers in the U.S. Health care establishments found themselves bereft of businesses as patients canceled elective procedures and even regular check-ups.
U.S. Lost 20.5 Million Jobs in April, Unemployment Soared to 14.7%
The unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April and the economy shed 20.5 million jobs, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Friday.
April was the second consecutive month of job losses for the U.S. economy following the record 113 months run of expanding employment rolls.
Economists had forecast that the economy would lose 21 million jobs and that the unemployment rate would climb from 4.4 percent to 16 percent. So the April figures were better than expected.
March’s job losses were revised up from a loss of 701,000 to 870,000. February, which saw job gains, was revised down by 45,000 from 275,000 to 230,000, a reminder of how just how strong the jobs market was prior to the onset of the coronavirus crisis.
Employment fell sharply in all major industry sectors, with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality, the Labor Department said. Both average hourly earnings and average hours worked moved up in April, likely reflecting businesses shedding newer and lower-paid employees first and attempting to make do with smaller payrolls by increasing hours.
Manufacturing shed 1.3 million jobs, including 381,500 in the auto sector. Construction lost 975,000 jobs. Health care and social assistance shrank by more than 2 million jobs.
White-collar positions have not been immune to the coronavirus jobs catastrophe. Information technology and financial services sectors shrank by more than one-quarter of a million jobs. Business services lost 2.1 million jobs.
The scale of the job loss has been breathtakingly sudden despite an unprecedented level of support for the economy from the federal government and the Federal Reserve. Over the past seven weeks, more than 33 million Americans have filed claims for unemployment benefits. But the number of claims has been declining for five consecutive weeks.
The Trump administration successfully pushed Congress to authorize direct payments to U.S. households to support incomes and to raise the amount paid by unemployment benefits by $600 a week, making it possible for some Americans to earn more through losing a job than they made working. The federal government is also backing over $600 billion of loans to small businesses that can be forgiven if those businesses avoid layoffs.
The Fed cuts its interest rate target to a range between 0 and 0.25 percent. In addition, it is in the process of launching a number of new lending facilities aimed at providing liquidity to struggling businesses.
But loans and direct payments can only go so far to offset orders that many businesses close their doors entirely or dramatically reduce the number of customers they serve. The customers were told to stay at home and avoid going out except to purchase essential items. Bars, theaters, and gyms were shuttered in much of the country. Restaurants were required to close dining rooms, remaining open only for take-out and delivery. Manufacturers often had to shut down altogether, including the plants of most automakers in the U.S. Health care establishments found themselves bereft of businesses as patients canceled elective procedures and even regular check-ups.
In the five weeks covered by the U.S. jobs report for April, 26.5 million people applied for unemployment benefits. The job loss reported Friday is lower than that because the two are measured differently: The government calculates job losses by surveying businesses and households. It’s a net figure that also counts the hiring that some companies, like Amazon and many grocery stores, have done. By contrast, the total jobless claims is a measure of just the layoff side of the equation.
Even Friday’s numbers don’t fully capture the scope of the damage the coronavirus, social distancing, and government shutdown orders has inflicted on jobs and incomes. Many people who are still employed have had their hours reduced. Others have suffered pay cuts. Some who lost jobs in April and didn’t look for a new one in light of their bleak prospects won’t even be counted as unemployed.
During the Great Recession of 2008-2009, the nation lost 6.5 percent of its jobs over a two-year span. It was the worst loss in any recession since World War II. The unemployment rate hit 10 percent in the fall of 2009, the highest level since 1982’s 10.8 percent unemployment.
Few economists expect a rapid turnaround.
The Congressional Budget Office has forecast that the unemployment rate will still be 9.5 percent by the end of next year. A paper by economists at the San Francisco Federal Reserve estimates that under an optimistic scenario that assumes shutdowns are lifted quickly, the unemployment rate could fall back to about 4 percent by mid-2021.
But if shutdowns recur and hiring revives more slowly, the jobless rate could remain in double-digits until the end of 2021, the San Francisco Fed economists predict.
Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist, is tracking real-time data on the economy, including consumer spending, small business hiring and job postings. Chetty noted the economy’s health will hinge on when the viral outbreak has subsided enough that most Americans will feel comfortable returning to restaurants, bars, movie theaters and shops.
The data suggests that many small businesses are holding on in hopes that spending and the economy will rebound soon, he said. Small business payrolls have fallen sharply but have leveled off in recent weeks. And job postings haven’t dropped nearly as much as total jobs have. But it’s unclear how much longer those trends will persist.
“There’s only so long you can hold out,” Chetty said.
Mass joblessness deepens in US as corporations move to implement permanent layoffs
8 May 2019
US government figures to be released today are expected to show mass unemployment in April unlike anything seen since the Great Depression. In numbers released Wednesday, ADP Research said that US payrolls in April fell by an astounding 20,236,000, a number far larger than anything ever previously recorded.
Looked at another way, the number of jobs lost so far is equal to the total combined workforce of 25 US states. It is 41 times worse than the 533,000 jobs lost in November 2008 at the time of the last economic crash.
The reality is even worse, since the official jobs figures for April are based on the state of the economy in the middle of the month. According to a report in Forbes Thursday, “The country is now at 40.6 million unemployed, or 24.9% of the work force. That matches the annual worst year of the Great Depression without considering how many have been unable to file.”
The economic catastrophe is being compounded by the continued refusal of the US government to marshal aid for the unemployed. After handing out trillions to the banks, the ruling class, spearheaded by the Trump administration, is seeking to use social distress as a weapon in its campaign to break down public opposition to the reopening of the economy even as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Many workers, already struggling in the low wage economy and living paycheck to paycheck, have been left essentially penniless as overburdened and antiquated state unemployment systems have failed to pay out timely benefits.
Meanwhile, a shocking report by the Hamilton Project found that 20 percent of households and over 40 percent of US mothers with children under the age of 13 are experiencing food insecurity.
The death toll in the US is set to exceed 75,000 as the pandemic spreads into more rural areas of the country, many beset by poverty, with older populations and lacking adequate health care infrastructure. A number of states set to relax or eliminate social distancing measures are in precisely those areas where new cases are rising fastest, such as Mississippi, Nebraska and Georgia.
Last week there were an additional 3.2 million new applications for unemployment assistance, bringing to 33 million the number of people who have filed since the outbreak of the pandemic.
These numbers are a serious underestimation. The Economic Policy Institute reported that it found that for every 100 workers able to successfully apply for unemployment benefits, there are another 37 that had tried to file but could not get through the system.
The economic meltdown triggered by the pandemic is metastasizing into a prolonged recession or depression as corporations utilize the crisis to implement permanent layoffs and restructuring. Major manufacturers, including Boeing, GE Aircraft and US Steel have already announced mass job cuts.
The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released its job cuts report on Thursday showing that US employers announced 671,129 job cuts in April compared to 222,288 in March. The April total is 1,577 percent higher than the 40,024 announced job cuts in April 2019.
The most job cuts in April were announced in New York, at 84,738. Florida had 71,138, Texas 70,318, Minnesota 57,192 and California 55,077.
This week United Airlines said it plans to eliminate 30 percent of its managerial jobs when government restrictions related to the bailout end, probably in October. This will result in the elimination of 3,500 jobs. In addition, the airline will require mangers and administrative workers to take 20 days off without pay between mid-May and the end of September. Earlier this week, United announced plans to lay off more than one third of its pilots, 4,457 positions, by October 1. Other airlines are likely to follow.
On Thursday, department store chain Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy. It had temporarily closed all 43 stores in March due to the pandemic. Earlier this week, retailer J. Crew also filed for bankruptcy. Other retail chains such as Lord & Taylor and J.C. Penney are considered vulnerable.
On Tuesday, bed and breakfast network Airbnb said it would lay off a quarter of its 7,500-person global workforce as demand for short-term home rentals plummeted. On Wednesday, ride service Uber announced that it would lay off 3,700 workers worldwide, or 14 percent of its total workforce, mostly customer support and recruiting jobs.
Projections for US auto sales have been lowered from 16 million to just 11 or 12 million, pointing to a likely massive downsizing in the car industry, with a wide-ranging impact on supplier industries.
Small businesses, which account for half of all US employment, are being especially hard hit. Thousands of small businesses, largely shut out of receiving federal stimulus money and already struggling, will likely never reopen.
Companies are also using the pandemic to institute pay cuts. Workers at Stanford Health Care in Palo Alto, California, who treat COVID-19 patents, are protesting an effective pay cut of 24 percent. Employees will be forced to take 12 furlough days over a 10-week period. Many of the workers earn between $55,000 and $65,000 a year.
States and localities continue to stagger due to lost tax revenues. The University of Georgia system voted Thursday to require all faculty and staff to be furloughed or take pay cuts due to budget shortfalls. Employees will be required to take either four or eight uncompensated furlough days depending on their pay grade.
There has been an unprecedented increase in hunger and food insecurity across the United States as tens of millions lose their livelihoods. Food lines are now common. On Wednesday residents in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York waited outside a local food pantry in a line extending half a mile.
In the state of Hawaii, cars lined up for more than a mile outside Aloha Stadium to receive 50 pounds of free food. Organizers estimated that 100 tons of food were distributed to 4,000 households.
Most of direct food aid comes from private donations, with state and local governments chipping in pathetically inadequate amounts.
The report released by the Hamilton Project this week found that rates of food insecurity in April 2020 were significantly higher than at any point for which there is data between 2001 to 2018, including the 2008-2009 economic crash.
After a near unanimous vote to enact a multi-trillion-dollar corporate bailout, Congress is bogged down in squabbling over a pathetic 15 percent increase in food stamp aid. The proposed increase, being blocked by Republicans, would provide an average increase of only about $35 a month to the typical household eligible for the program.
Ever tightening restrictions to the program enacted by Republican and Democratic administrations have forced millions out of the program even as need has risen.
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a sharp light on the irrationality of the accumulation of private wealth as the motive principle of society. Instead of prioritizing the fight against the pandemic and alleviating human suffering, countless billions are squandered on propping up Wall Street and massive funding of the war machine.
The unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April and the economy shed 20.5 million jobs, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Friday.
Over the past seven weeks, more than 33 million Americans have filed claims for unemployment benefits. But the number of claims has been declining for five consecutive weeks.
The Trump administration successfully pushed Congress to authorize direct payments to U.S. households to support incomes and to raise the amount paid by unemployment benefits by $600 a week, making it possible for some Americans to earn more through losing a job than they made working. The federal government is also backing over $600 billion of loans to small businesses that can be forgiven if those businesses avoid layoffs.
The Fed cuts its interest rate target to a range between 0 and 0.25 percent. In addition, it is in the process of launching a number of new lending facilities aimed at providing liquidity to struggling businesses.
But loans and direct payments can only go so far to offset orders that many businesses close their doors entirely or dramatically reduce the number of customers they serve. The customers were told to stay at home and avoid going out except to purchase essential items. Bars, theaters, and gyms were shuttered in much of the country. Restaurants were required to close dining rooms, remaining open only for take-out and delivery. Manufacturers often had to shut down altogether, including the plants of most automakers in the U.S. Health care establishments found themselves bereft of businesses as patients canceled elective procedures and even regular check-ups.
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