New weekly jobless claims on LI rise 11% as claims across U.S. fall

Weekly jobless claims on Long Island rose more than 11% last week following a decline the week before, state data shows.

New benefit claims on the Island rose by 952 to 9,118 for the week ended Jan. 23, up from the 8,166 reported a week earlier, according to state Labor Department numbers released Thursday. Claims last week were nearly five times higher than they were during the same period a year ago.

The newly unemployed join more than 55,000 Long Islanders receiving unemployment insurance payments as of December, the latest month such data is available.

On a year-over-year basis, the Island's labor market was down 104,700 jobs in December, according to state data released last week.

Across the country, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week by about 7% but remained at a historically high 847,000, a sign that layoffs keep coming as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.

Last week’s claims dropped by 67,000, from 914,000 the week before, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. Before the virus hit the United States hard last March, weekly applications for jobless aid had never topped 700,000.

Looking at trends on the national level, Gregory DeFreitas, senior labor economics professor at Hofstra, said there are signs that things may be moving in the right direction.

"At least the national figures are starting to show some signs of hope," DeFreitas said, pointing to dips in jobless claims and a narrowing of the industries laying off workers. "The job losses were much more concentrated than in the past."

"The economy is down, but ... it’s not as far down as it could be," he said. "If the Democrats get some version of their aid proposal through, they’re promising aid to state and local governments." He added that the current round of Paycheck Protection Program loans could also "get things moving a bit.''

Overall, nearly 4.8 million Americans received traditional state unemployment benefits for the week. That is down from nearly 5 million the week before and far below a staggering peak of nearly 25 million in May when the virus brought economic activity to a near halt. The drop suggests that some of the unemployed are finding new jobs and that others have exhausted state benefits.

Since February, the United States has lost 9.8 million jobs, including 140,000 in December.

Americans who lost work because of the pandemic can get aid from extended relief programs, which now offer up to 50 weeks of benefits, or from a new program that targets contractors and the self-employed. Altogether, 18.3 million people were receiving some type of unemployment benefit the week that ended Jan. 9, the latest period for which data is available.

Once vaccines become more widely distributed, economists expect growth to accelerate in the second half of the year as Americans unleash pent-up demand for travel, dining out and visiting movie theaters and concert halls. Such spending could boost hiring.
With AP