By Doug Barrett
May 16, 2021 | 4:28 PM
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 473,000, a new pandemic low. It’s the latest evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs as consumers ramp up spending and more businesses reopen. Instead of cutting jobs, many employers are struggling to attract enough applicants for open positions.
Retail sales were flat in April after soaring in March, when many Americans received $1,400 stimulus checks that boosted spending. Today’s report from the U.S. Commerce Department was worse than the 0.8% rise Wall Street analysts had expected.
Amazon is seeking to hire 75,000 people in a tight job market and is offering bonuses to attract workers, including $100 for new hires who are already vaccinated for COVID-19. The jobs pay at least $15 an hour and are for delivery drivers and warehouse workers, who pack and ship online orders.
By Doug Barrett
Apr 18, 2021 3:20 PM
Newly vaccinated and armed with $1,400 stimulus checks, Americans went on a spending spree last month, buying new clothes and going out to eat again. The Commerce Department says retail sales surged a seasonally adjusted 9.8% after dropping about 3% the month before.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to 576,000, a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications plummeted 193,000 from a revised 769,000 a week earlier. Jobless claims are now down sharply from a peak of 900,000 in early January.
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Bouncing back from months of retrenchment, Americaâs consumers stepped up their spending by a solid 2.4% in January, the sharpest increase in seven months and a sign that the economy may be poised to sustain a recovery from the pandemic recession. Â The Commerce Department report shows personal incomes, which provide the fuel for spending, jumped 10% last month.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is underscoring the U.S. economy’s ongoing weakness in remarks that suggest that the Fed sees no need to alter its ultra-low interest rate policies anytime soon. Powell’s comments are in contrast to increasing optimism among many analysts that the economy will grow rapidly later this year.
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