MNI POLICY: Half of US Households Report Income Loss Last Week

Half of U.S. households experienced a loss of employment income last week, Census Bureau data showed Thursday, suggesting relative labor market strength seen in May and June could be short-lived.

Roughly 51% of households reported income loss between July 16 - 21, little changed from the previous week, according to the latest Household Pulse Survey.

The data suggests another 5 million jobs were lost in July, Charles Schwab Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders wrote on Twitter, wiping out the 4.8 million jobs gained in June.

Households reporting lost income have been growing since the bureau started collecting data in the final week of April, roughly one month after the global Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the WHO.

MORE LOSSES SEEN

More than 65% of households in Nevada, a state hard-hit by virus shutdowns due to its reliance on tourism, reported a loss of employment income last week. That was followed by Michigan, where 56% of households reported losing sources of income.

One-third of households expect to lose employment income over the next four weeks, suggesting more layoffs may be coming and recent employment growth seen over the last two months could be quickly reversed.

Nearly 2 million more people reported being out of work last week, according to the survey, and just over 32 million said they had lost their job or had been temporarily laid off because of business shutdowns or reduced operations tied to the coronavirus. That's up by 1 million from the week before.