Usman Salis
The global turmoil continues pressuring the U.S. economy. Today the unemployment claims passed topped 2.1 million in the last week, making the total number of claims more than 40 million.
Layoffs are full-steam on
Although some parts of the U.S. economy are slowly reopening, the country is still suffering from stalled business activity. Even giants like Disney have to furlough their employees just because they cannot conduct their services.
Businesses themselves bleed out, seeing lower demand from consumers. Companies have to cut costs and one of the possible ways of doing so is reducing the number of staff. For instance, Boeing reportedly laid off 6,770 workers.
The rise in unemployment increases tensions in society. The recent tragedy of George Floyd and multiple appearances of looting in the U.S. shows that citizens are being psychologically pushed by the circumstances.
The high number of unemployment claims causes bleak comments on social media. For instance, a tweet by Thomas Kaine states “We are in a deep recession”. He also points to the contraction in the country’s GDP and criticizes the government for quantitative easing and propping up the stock market.
Many unemployed people in the U.S. are currently receiving financial support from the government, which in some cases turns out to be larger than what they earned working. However, there is a substantial portion of Americans that have trouble with eligibility for stimulus checks. Hence, some people are left on their own during the economic decline.
Is there hope?
Although the absolute number of the unemployment number is very high, it is declining by week. Some, like Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg TV, hope that this downtrend continues.
With the unemployment numbers reaching the Great Depression levels, the U.S. is facing great challenges. Given that it is one of the world’s largest economies, this appears rather alarming.
Usman Salis
