Tag Archives: Labor Department

Labor: 1.5M New Jobless Claims, 44M Over 12 Weeks

CNBC reports: The pace of unemployment claims declined again last week as the U.S. jobs market continued its plodding recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Labor Department data showed Thursday. Initial claims totaled 1.54 million, compared with the 1.6 million expected from economists surveyed by Dow Jones and a plunge of 355,000 from the previous week’s total just shy of 1.9 …

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2.1M New Jobless Claims, 40.7M Over Last Ten Weeks

USA Today reports: About 2.1 million Americans filed initial unemployment benefit claims last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. In just ten weeks, 40.7 million have sought jobless benefits that represent the nation’s most reliable gauge of layoffs. A record 20.5 million jobs were lost in April, according to the Labor Department, spiking the unemployment rate to 14.7%, the highest …

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Labor Dept: 3M New Jobless Claims, 36.5M In 8 Weeks

Yahoo Finance reports: The COVID-19 pandemic’s continued impact on the labor market was highlighted Thursday morning when the U.S. Labor Department released its weekly initial jobless claims report. Another 2.981 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 9 surpassing economists’ estimates for 2.5 million jobless claims for the week. The prior week’s figure was revised higher …

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Unemployment Hits 14.7%, Highest Since Depression

ABC News reports: The U.S. economy lost an unprecedented 20.5 million jobs in April and the unemployment rate soared to 14.7 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March after months at a half-century low, according to the monthly employment report, released Friday by the Department of Labor. In just over a month, the coronavirus has wiped out all job gains …

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3.2M New Jobless Claims, Total Of 33.5M Since March

CNBC reports: Unemployment rolls continued to swell in the U.S. last week, though jobless claims hit their lowest level since the economy went into lockdown made to battle the coronavirus pandemic. First-time filings for unemployment insurance hit 3.27 million last week, bringing the total to 33.5 million over the past seven weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The total was …

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4.4 Million New Jobless Claims, 26 Million In Five Weeks

NBC News reports: Another 4.4 million Americans filed for initial jobless claims last week, revealing that at least 26 million people have requested unemployment benefits since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In just one month, all job gains since the Great Recession have disappeared, according to new data released Thursday by the Department of Labor. The economy had created …

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Labor Dept: 6.6 Million New Jobless Claims This Week

NPR reports: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits shot up again last week, as 6.6 million more people filed initial claims, the Labor Department said Thursday. And analysts expect the numbers to keep rising in coming weeks. About 17 million have filed in the past three weeks. In the prior week, ending March 28, a revised 6.9 million people …

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Record 6.6 Million Jobless Claims Filed Last Week

The New York Times reports: More than 6.6 million people filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, setting a grim record for the second straight week. Added to 3.3 million claims for the week ending March 21, it means nearly 10 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in two weeks. The speed and …

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Labor Dept Reports Record 3.28 Million Jobless Claims

NPR reports: A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country. The Labor Department’s report Thursday was one of the first official indicators of how many people have suddenly been forced out of work nationally. The staggering claims figure was well above the levels seen during the darkest …

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Labor Dept Issues Robust Jobs Report For February

The Hill reports: The U.S. added 273,000 jobs in February, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department, blowing past expectations ahead of a feared coronavirus economic slump. The unemployment rate stayed roughly even at 3.5 percent while the labor force participation rate held steady at 63.4 percent. February’s job gain comes after an upwardly revised increase of 273,000 …

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Anti-Gay Trump Official Quits Over “Anti-Semitic” Post

Bloomberg Law reports: A recently appointed Trump Labor Department official with a history of advancing controversial conservative and faith-based causes in court has resigned after revelations that he wrote a 2016 Facebook post suggesting the Jewish-controlled media “protects their own.” Olson, 43, started at the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division Aug. 12 as a senior policy adviser, after being …

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Scalia’s Son To Finally Get Labor Secretary Nomination

Axios reports: President Trump on Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Eugene Scalia, son of the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as labor secretary. Why it matters: The Cabinet position has been filled by acting Secretary Patrick Pizzella since Alex Acosta resigned in July amid backlash for his involvement in negotiating the sweetheart plea deal Jeffrey Epstein received …

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Revision: 500,000 Fewer Jobs Created Than Reported

MarketWatch reports: Turns out hiring wasn’t nearly as strong in 2018 and early 2019 as the government initially reported — by about a half-million jobs. The economy had about 501,000 fewer jobs as of March 2019 than the Bureau of Labor Statistics initially calculated in its survey of business establishments. That’s the largest revision since the waning stages of the …

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Trump Administration Proposes Rule Allowing Federal Contractors To Discriminate Against LGBTs And Others

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration on Wednesday formally proposed a new rule to let businesses with federal contracts cite religious objections as a valid reason to discriminate against their workers on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, LGBTQ status, and other characteristics — thereby skirting worker protections created by past presidents. But the Trump …

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Trump To Nominate Scalia’s Son As Labor Secretary

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is likely to nominate Eugene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to be the next Labor secretary, according to three sources familiar with the plans. The younger Scalia, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is a management-side attorney who in 2006 argued on behalf of Wal-Mart against …

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Incoming Labor Secretary Was Sweatshop Lobbyist

CNBC reports: Incoming acting Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella will take the helm of the department following the resignation Friday of Alex Acosta, who faced scrutiny over his role in prosecuting alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein more than a decade ago. But Pizzella, currently deputy Labor secretary, has his own controversial past that will likely come to the fore. Democratic senators …

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Top Labor Dept Official Resigns Amid Ethics Probe

Bloomberg Law reports: A Labor Department official who worked for a steel company in a lawsuit against a worker union after joining the Trump administration has stepped down from his post in the face of ethics questions. Associate Deputy Labor Secretary Michael Avakian resigned effective April 5, a Labor Department official told Bloomberg Law. The move comes less than one …

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Labor Dept Issues Weakest Jobs Report In 17 Months

Yahoo News reports: The U.S. economy added a sharply lower-than-expected 20,000 non-farm payrolls in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Consensus expectations called for 180,000 positions to be added for the month, according to Bloomberg data. February’s headline reading for new payrolls was the weakest in 17 months. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8%, from 4% in January. …

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Labor Department Quietly Grants Federal Contractors “Religious Exemptions” To Discriminate Against LGBTs

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: President Donald Trump offered skeptical LGBT Americans an olive branch when he took office in January 2017. The White House promised to safeguard a 2014 executive order that protects workers, announcing former President Obama’s ban on anti-LGBT discrimination by federal contractors “will remain intact.” But on Aug. 10 of this year, the Department of …

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Sec. Alex Acosta Recognizes Pride Month: The Labor Department Honors The Contributions Of All Americans

Via press release from Labor Secretary Alex Acosta: This June, we recognize Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Pride Month at the Department of Labor. The department honors the impactful contributions of all Americans, no matter their ethnic background, gender, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation. Pride at DOL, the Department’s Affinity Group for LGBTQ Employees and Allies, helps educate …

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