Brighter News For WNY As The Economy Continues To Rebound

Americans applying for unemployment benefits decreased last week by 14,000 to 385,000, evidence that according to the experts the economy is rebounding briskly from the coronavirus recession.

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WIVB-TV tells us that the Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims dropped last week from 399,000 the week before. The applications have fallen steadily by most accounts since topping 900,000 in January.  By historic levels however, they still remain on the high side. Before the pandemic hit the United States last Spring they were at around 220,000 a week.

Since March of 2020 the economy has bounded back as vaccines encourage business owners to reopen and return to normal operating hours and consumers have responded by returning to local establishments.

The United States has been adding more than 540,000 jobs a month this year, and the Labor Department’s July jobs report out Friday is expected to show it tacked on nearly 863,000 more last month, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet.

The economy however is still 6.8 million jobs short of where it stood in February of last year.

Companies are posting job openings in record fashion, reported to be 9.2 million in May faster than applicants than they can find applicants to fill them. One noted problem, an extra $300 a week on top of traditional state unemployment benefits. The federal benefits if not extended will expire nationwide on September 6th.

According to the Richard J. Wehle School of Business Canisius College:

The national economy has recovered since its April 2020 trough but according to experts but is still approximately seven and a half million workers below its February 2020 peak...

In WNY, we have recovered 82,700 jobs since April 2020, but remain 39,200 jobs below the previous April.

The health crisis unfortunately is far from over. COVID-19 cases are rising as the delta variant spreads, largely among the unvaccinated. The U.S. is reporting an average of  70,000 new cases a day, which should be noted is up from fewer than 12,000 a day in June.

So far, the uptick in cases COVID cases from the Delta variant hasn’t had noticeable economic consequences.