With layoffs high but slowing, can US job market rise up?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Since its record-setting peak five weeks ago, the number of laid-off U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits, while still extraordinarily high, has steadily slowed.
The trend suggests that the grimmest period of layoffs that began after businesses suddenly shut down in March has passed.
Yet the economy — and tens of millions of unemployed Americans — remain devastated by the economic freeze that resulted from the coronavirus outbreak. The job market's epic collapse will be vividly illustrated in Friday’s employment report for April, which is sure to be the worst in decades.
With the potential for much of the economy to reopen in the coming months, at least some portion of America's laid-off workers will likely be called back to work. Yet layoffs could also rise again if state and local governments are forced to reduce their staffing or if a second wave of infections forces another round of shutdowns later this year.
Against that backdrop, what is the state of America’s job market, and where might it go from here? Here are some questions and answers:
WHAT DOES THE DECLINE IN JOBLESS CLAIMS SIGNIFY?
Last week, 3.2 million people sought unemployment aid, down from all-time high of 6.9 million at the end of March. The new record level that was set in March was 10 times the the previous high. Some economists see the decline in applications for unemployment aid as a sign that the job market may at least be bottoming out.
A majority of states are starting to reopen some categories of businesses, typically with some restrictions on close contact, or plan to do so soon. Partly as a result, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, projects that applications for jobless aid will gradually fall below 1 million by mid-June. That...
