The number of new unemployment claims for week ending 4/24/21 decreased by a small 13,000 to 553,000. That is the lowest level of newly unemployed since the start of the shutdown.
New claims dropped a lot in the week ending 4/10/21, going from 769K the prior week to 576K, a drop of 193K.
New claims in state programs at the end of the last three months:
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As we finish our first year of shutting down education for our kids and shutting down the economy for everyone evidence is emerging of what a terrible mistake we made.
A series of posts will commemorate this regrettable anniversary.
Today’s articles:
The number of new claims for unemployment for week ending 3/13/21 increased 45,000 after decling 29,000 the prior week. Those weekly changes are in the range of what has happened over the last six months. In other words, not a lot of improvement with plenty of ups and downs in the weekly new-claims tally.
Since 8/29/20, the new weekly claims ranged from a low of 711K to high of 965K. average since then is 812K. That means weekly new claims have been bad news for seven months in a row.
For context consider before the economic shutdown the new claims averaged about 220K per week, so after all these months of improvements we are still running about four times the previous norm.
Why this ongoing discussion?
If we’re going to understand what is happening in the economy we need to dive deeper into the numbers. For those of us who are CPAs providing audits and reviews, it helps us to have a deeper understanding of the overall economy.
Ponder the following graphs and you can make your own assessment.
News report
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Only have one post since the start of the year on the damage caused by the government imposed shutdown of education, the economy, travel, and health systems. That’s not because the damage is easing up. It’s just because I’ve not taken the time to write about the articles I see every day.
The damage continues. Merely a few of the articles of recent interest:
Feel free to laugh. Or cry if you wish. Two more politicians demonstrate they are exempt from the rules they require us lowly, common peasants to follow.
Also, two politicians realize it, um, maybe, possibly, is time to get the economy started. Oh yeah, that is in spite of infection rate spike in New York State.
Today’s source of entertainment which would be funny if the human impact from the lockdowns had not been so devastating for the last 10 months:
12/23/20 – Red State – NC Official Says She Will Travel For Christmas After Telling Residents To Stay Home. Her Justification Is Priceless – Behold the power of rationalization.
The number of new claims for unemployment for week ending 1/9/21 increased to 965,000, a deterioration of 181,000 from the prior week. That is the highest number of new state claims since 8/22/20.
Since 8/29/20, the new weekly claims have been in the 700Ks or 800Ks.
Keep in mind that before the shutdown of the economy the new claims averaged about 220K per week, so we are now running more than four times the previous norm.
The number of continuing claims for unemployment has been slowly dropping but increased for the week ending 1/2/21.
News report
Article at Wall Street Journal on 1/14/21 reports US Unemployment Claims Rise as Pandemic Weighs on Economy. Article link indicates the consensus is the increasing virus count combined with increasing restrictions on businesses caused the jump in new unemployment claims.
Article says there are other economic indicators suggesting the economy is slowing down again. Stats such as small business optimism, new home sales, existing home sales, household income, and household spending point towards a slowdown.
Following graphs show the devastation from the economic shutdown.
New claims
New claims for unemployment by week since the start of 2020:
The government ordered shutdown of the economy in 2020 has devastated primary education, secondary education, higher education, travel industry, entertainment industry, small businesses, restaurants, physical health, mental health, and detective/ preventive treatment of chronic and deadly disease. Level of unemployment is second only to the Great Depression. We have seen evaporation of wealth, savings, trust in government officials at all levels, and trust in every public health official in the country.
I have over 100 posts protesting the foolishness and destruction this year with those posts containing close to 90,000 words describing the devastation.
This will be the last routine post describing the intentional disruption we have suffered this year. I will have one more post describing actual science that is surfacing, which is in sharp contrast to the alleged “science” that has driven the demolition of the country.
Discussion in this post:
Indicators of the devastation in the travel industry
11/4/20 – Wall Street Journal – How Coronavirus Ravaged Travel in 2020 – The Middle Seat column tabulated a number of indicators showing the illness across entire travel industry.
What does the collapse of an entire industry look like? A few stats:
Traffic at three largest New York airports:
The number of new claims for unemployment for week ending 12/26/20 declined for a secone weeks in a row. New claims are 787K, a 19K drop for the week.
This two week drop follows two weeks of increases, which totaled 176K.
Since 8/9/20, the new weekly claims have been in the 700Ks or 800Ks.
For contrast, remember that before the government induced shutdown of the economy the new claims averaged about 220K per week so we are still running three or four times the previous norm.
The number of continuing claims for unemployment is continuing to drop. Large part of the drop is people going back to work. Some portion, likely a lot, of the drop in state-level continuing claims has been offset by rising number of people on the federal program.
When a person exhausts the state level coverage, they become eligible for the extended federal benefits, called the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program.
Article at Wall Street Journal on 12/31/20 reports US Unemployment Claims Fell Modestly Last Week. Article explains the new claims for state programs is a proxy for layoffs. Good observation.
The number of new claims for unemployment for week ending 12/5/20 increased from 716K in prior week to 853K.
Number of new claims has been in the 700Ks or 800Ks since the end of August.
The number of continuing claims for unemployment increased for the week ending 11/28/20, going from 5.53M up to 5.76M.
Just a few graphs this week:
New claims
New claims for unemployment by week since the start of the year:
Casting my CPA eye on the 1946 probate document for my grandfather’s estate led to a series of posts on my other blog describing what we can learn about farming in the 1940s from a legal filing. Those posts have been combined into one section of my newest book: An Ulvog Journey.
The book also provides recollections of growing up a South Dakota farm in the 1930s and 1940s, written by my dad and his seven siblings.
One of my uncles, Carl Ulvog, was a captivating storyteller. His autobiographic tale of experiences in the South Pacific during World War II are also included.
Description from back page of the book:
The number of new claims for unemployment for week ending 11/7/20 again declined. This is the fourth weekly decline, with drops in eight of the last fifteen weeks. New claims are 709K, a 48K drop for the week.
Starting 8/29/20 the new claims have been in the mid- to high 800 thousands. Since 10/17/20 the new claims have been under 800K.
Remember that before the government induced shutdown of the economy the new claims averaged about 220K per week so we are still running more than three times the previous norm.
The number of continuing claims for unemployment is continuing to drop. Large part of the drop is people going back to work. Part of it is people dropping off the state-level unemployment rolls exhausting coverage.
On 11/12/20, the Wall Street Journal reported U.S. Unemployment Claims Slip but Hold at High Levels. Article asserts the declining new claims and drop in ongoing claims indicates the economy is in a good recovery. Consensus of economists spoken to for the article indicate economy is on a better tract recovery now then the expectations were a few months ago. Current expectation is the GDP will drop 2.7% for the year which is better than the 3.6% expected just last month.
Article suggests that recovery is better than expected.
Tally of people who are now in the extended 13 weeks covered at the federal level is rising rapidly. Here is a recap:
Every day there are fresh reports of the devastating impact from the shutdown of the economy. Damage is widespread. Impact is growing.
Just a few of the recent articles:
There is a severe cost to be paid from early mistakes and ongoing mistakes by a wide range of government officials.
Devastating impact from more serious cancers
10/15/20 – Wall Street Journal – Covid-19 Outbreaks Led to Dangerous Delay in Cancer Diagnoses – The closing of many health facilities meant regular screenings for cancer were not available for several months this past spring. Next, widespread panic kept people away from doctors’ offices. One insurance company reports the number of daily screenings for colorectal cancer dropped between 50% and 80% for about three months.
Only at the end of August was the number of screenings back to the normal amount compared to prior years.
The expected result?
A cancer care provider reports an increased number of patients are arriving with advanced stages of cancer.
Economic damage from the shutdown is becoming more obvious as more reporters spend time covering the destruction. Here are two articles each on the overall economic impact, specific impact on individuals, and concentrated impact on two cities:
How long will we let this go on?
Broad indication of the damage:
10/11/20 – India Today – Italy’s GDP in 2022 shrink back to the same level as 23 years ago: Report – (more…)
The number of new claims for unemployment for week ending 10/10/20 increased, which offset net declines of the preceding five weeks. New claims are 898K, a 53K increase over the revised tally for previous week of 845K.
Since 8/29/20 the new claims have been in the mid- to high 800 thousands. Change in the last six weeks, starting with 9/5/20 are +9K, -27K, +7K, -24K, -4K, +53K.
Keep in mind before the government induced shutdown of the economy new claims averaged about 220K per week so we are still running about four times the previous norm.
The number of continuing claims for unemployment is continuing to drop. I’m not sure why this is. Part is due to people going back to work. Part of it is people dropping off the state-level unemployment rolls after the 13 weeks of coverage.
Summarized below are a few of the recent articles pointing to expanding economic damage from the shutdown. Destruction in the movie business is noticeable in recent days:
10/5/20 – Wall Street Journal – Regal Cinemas Suspending Operations at All US Locations – The chain with the second largest number of theaters in the U.S. has closed all of its US theaters after having reopened only two months ago. Article does not indicate when any of the theaters will be reopened.
Article says release dates for a dozen movies have been postponed.