MNI DATA PREVIEW: 3M US Claims Seen Taking Virus Cuts to 33M

By Brooke Migdon

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - Another 3 million U.S. weekly jobless claims are

expected in figures due Thursday as the coronavirus continues to prompt business

closures.

     The figure in the Bloomberg forecast would lag the record 6.6 million

weekly claims by more than half, which some say is strong evidence that initial

claims will continue to decline.

     The estimate would bring jobless claims tied to the coronavirus to a

staggering 33 million, nearly quadrupling the total amount of jobs lost during

the 2008 recession. The level of initial claims should remain highly elevated

for at least several more weeks, according to analysts.

     The Labor Department has said the coronavirus continues to inflate both

initial and continuing claims, which represent unemployed workers who have

received at least one week of unemployment benefits. Goldman Sachs expects

continuing claims to rise to nearly 20 million Thursday after climbing to 18

million last week.

     --CLOGGED WEBSITES

     Even as weekly initial claims slow, states are struggling to keep pace with

demand for benefits, and antiquated unemployment websites continue to crash,

creating insurmountable backlogs. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced

Tuesday he plans to ask his inspector general to investigate Florida's "broken"

unemployment website, which was last updated in 2013.

     States are also struggling to pay benefits. At least nine plan to ask the

federal government for USD36 billion in advances, POLITICO reported this week,

and California has already taken out an unemployment insurance loan of USD348

million.

     More than half of U.S. states have allowed businesses deemed non-essential

during the pandemic to open for the first time, in some cases, in more than one

month. Initial claims will likely further decline as millions of Americans go

back to work, though experts warn that premature re-openings could lead to a

second spike in positive coronavirus cases and business closures.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 202 371 2121; email: brooke.migdon@marketnews.com

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