Economy

The pace of weekly jobless claims jumped last week after filings caught up with a decline due in part to the Thanksgiving holiday. First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 853,000, an increase from the upwardly revised 716,000 total a week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 730,000.

Teresa Nguyen, a respiratory therapist, goes over a patient’s charts inside a room for people with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a hospital in Hutchinson, Kansas, November 20, 2020. Callaghan O’Hare | Reuters The U.S. economy will recover faster than expected in part because the sectors most susceptible to the most recent coronavirus spread aren’t

A for sale sign is posted in front of a home as interest rates for home loans climbed to nearly 4% in the wake of the election of Donald Trump to be the U.S. president on November 17, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Mortgage rates fell again, falling to a record

Charles Scharf Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said Tuesday that the U.S. economy will probably rebound quickly from the coronavirus next year after vaccines are widely distributed. As head of the fourth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, Scharf has a unique view into the saving and spending activity of

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin listens to a question during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Treasury Department’s and Federal Reserve’s Pandemic Response” in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, December 2, 2020. Greg Nash | Pool | Reuters The decision by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin not to extend the funding

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said he wouldn’t be in favor of changing the central bank’s bond-purchasing program even though he sees some rocky times ahead for the U.S. economy. Speaking Wednesday to CNBC, Kaplan said financial conditions are such that the Fed probably doesn’t need to do more than its current pace of

Job gains in November are expected to be weaker than in October, reflecting the impact of virus-related shutdowns by states and local governments due to the record spread of Covid-19. Economists expect a consensus of 440,000 nonfarm payrolls were added in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.9%, according to Dow Jones.

SDI Productions | E+ | Getty Images A slew of recent studies underscore the difficulties many workers of color, including Hispanics, are facing as a result of Covid. The Latinx community finds itself over-represented in industries such as hospitality and construction, which suffered mightily at the hands of the pandemic. But there are also bright spots: Hispanic unemployment began

John Williams, left, and his dad Terry, right, both of Salem, carry a large Christmas Tree out of the field together at Tucker Tree Farm in Salem, Oregon, November 29, 2020. Alisha Jucevic | Reuters Tree retailers are having a spirited season this year, as Americans staying closer to home due to the coronavirus pandemic

Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 245,000 in November, well below Wall Street estimates as rising coronavirus cases coincided with a considerable slowdown in hiring. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 440,000 and the jobless rate to decrease to 6.7% from 6.9% in October. The unemployment rate met expectations, though it fell along

Food Bank for New York City distributes turkeys and Thanksgiving fixings with support from Stop & Shop and WBLS’ The Steve Harvey Morning Show on November 16, 2020 in New York City. Michael Loccisano | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images Job growth slowed significantly in November and looks set to decline even more, as

President-elect Joe Biden said Friday’s underwhelming jobs report foreshadows a “dark winter” that demands “urgent action” from President Donald Trump and Congress, as Covid spreads out of control across the U.S. and Americans face benefit cuts if Congress does not pass stimulus legislation. Biden, in a statement issued by his office, said the latest report

In the months since the U.S. labor market shed roughly 22.2 million jobs at the start of the coronavirus recession, some 10 million roles still have not recovered as the virus drags on and a host of stimulus policies intended to keep Americans housed, fed and able to meet essential needs expire in three weeks.

New jobless-claim filings last week reached their lowest level of the pandemic crisis, providing a sign that hiring is continuing if at a slower pace. First-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 712,000 last week, compared with 787,000 a week earlier and the Dow Jones estimate of 780,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That marked a

A house for sale in Sarasota, Florida Scott Mlyn | CNBC  Thanksgiving week isn’t usually a popular time for homebuying, but most economic numbers this year are incomparable, especially in the pandemic-spiked housing market.  Mortgage applications to purchase a home jumped 9% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally

Private payrolls grew at their slowest pace since July amid a deceleration in large business hiring for November, according to a report Wednesday from ADP. Companies hired 307,000 workers for the month, well below the 475,000 estimate from a Dow Jones survey of economists. The total represented a decline from the upwardly revised 404,000 in

People wait to visit a house for sale in Floral Park, Nassau County, New York. Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images Strong, pandemic-induced demand for housing is still there, but buyers may now be hitting an affordability wall. Pending home sales fell 1.1% month-to-month in October but were 20.2% higher compared with

Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Department of Labor has been both miscounting the amount of people receiving unemployment benefits and underpaying those under a special program instituted to address the coronavirus pandemic, according to a government watchdog report Monday. Issues dealing with the surge in those filing claims for the new programs aimed at