Today’s unemployment claims report from the Department of Labor makes it appear that the slow pace of rehiring underway was no longer reducing the numbers of unemployed as of the end of August. Both new claims and the lagging “continuing claims” reports have been essentially unchanged for several weeks, as has the “number of persons claiming unemployment under all programs.”
In addition, the pattern of part-time rather than full-time rehiring has become clear. Roughly 65% of the 8.6 million Americans who lost part-time jobs in the March-April “shut-down” have regained part-time employment, while less than 50% of the 16.8 million who lost full-time employment have regained full-time employment.
Moreover, new claims from the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Benefits program are continuing at a high rate, indicating “gig workers” are continuing to lose their work and/or not getting it back. This particular program affords unemployment benefits to such workers, who are ineligible in normal times.
Overall, this apparent stall in re-employment is occurring with, still, more than 30 million Americans either unemployed, forced to work part-time while needing full-time work, or having dropped out of the labor force since February.
