The latest job-loss figures from the US Labor Department bring to 41 million the running total of Americans who have filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus shutdowns took hold in mid-March. There were some encouraging signs: The overall number of Americans currently drawing jobless benefits dropped for the first time since the crisis began, from 25 million to 21 million. And first-time applications for unemployment benefits have fallen for eight straight weeks, as states gradually let stores, restaurants and other businesses reopen and the autoindustry starts up factories again. Washington state, for example, reported layoffs of government employees. Washington state said it saw layoffs in insurance, and New York state reported job cuts by information technology companies.

Source: Manila Times May 29, 2020 16:43 UTC