Jobless claims fell again this week, and consumer spending was strong in August. Those were the two big takeaways from new reports released on Thursday.
The jobless claims number was an improvement, but still sits at recession levels. Advocates and lawmakers say it highlights the need for another rescue package.
At this point, lawmakers and the White House are beginning to rehash debate on a potential package.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 837,000 for the week, which ended September 26th. The week prior saw 873,000 claims.
For comparison, these figures are about 200,000 claims over the peak of the Great Recession of the mid-2000s.
House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met on Wednesday in a bid to broker a bipartisan deal on stalled negotiations, according to Reuters.
As for consumer spending, it rose another 1.0% in August, according to the Commerce Department. That after a 1.5% increase in July. Ultimately, this could be helped to continue growing if another package is passed with additional unemployment benefits for the millions of Americans out of work.
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