U.S. employers added millions of jobs in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1% as the market recorded its second consecutive month of rebound from the pandemic-induced shutdown.
While that was a bright spot in the overall economic news on Thursday, a less-exciting metric is the uptick in unemployment claims.
Some warn that the 1.5 million who filed first-time unemployment claims in the last week did so because of permanent closures, rather than the temporary kind seen at the start of the pandemic.
People are spending less, according to the data. Data tracked by JPMorgan Chase shows that consumers reduced spending last week, after seeing steady increases in spending since late-April.
“The pace of recovery is starting to slow,” said Dave Gilbertson, an executive at Kronos. He spoke with the Associated Press about the changes in the economic picture in these week-to-week, month-to-month reports. “We are expecting to see more of a plateauing over the next couple of months.”
Locally, residents and businesses alike have been concerned with the slow return to normal, which has been capped by Governor Andrew Cuomo, and his phased approach to reopening. However, other states that have not gone through a phased reopening are seeing major spikes in cases.
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