The Washington Post - 19.03.2020

THURSDAy, MARCH 19 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ re K A23

the coronavirus outbreak

BY RACHEL SIEGEL

Layoffs are continuing to
mount by the tens of thousands,
prompting a surge of applica-
tions at unemployment offices
nationwide as the coronavirus
brings more of the U.S. economy
to a standstill.
Just a week ago, hundreds of
people had been laid off, but
those numbers are skyrocketing.
As Trump administration lead-
ers, industry officials and econo-
mists project dire warnings of
millions of jobs vanishing this
year, an increasingly grim pic-
ture of the U.S. labor market is
emerging for the months to
co me.
The deluge into unemploy-
ment offices is beginning to
strain systems. In Ohio, the De-
partment of Job and Family Ser-
vices said 36,645 claims were
filed Monday. That’s typically
what the department receives
each month, the Columbus Dis-
patch noted.
Pennsylvania experienced
more than 50,000 on Monday
and more than that on Tuesday,
according to a tally from econo-
mist Jacob Robbins and the Pitts-
burgh Post-Gazette. Minnesota
officials saw more than 31,000
applications on Monday and
Tuesday, the Star Tribune report-
ed. In New Jersey, 15,000 applica-
tions arrived on Monday, causing
the state’s website to crash, local
affiliate WHYY reported.
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin warned lawmakers that
the U. S. unemployment rate
could spike to almost 20 percent
from its current level of 3.5
percent, three people familiar
with his comments told The
Washington Post on Tuesday.
Kevin Hassett, a former Trump
administration economist, told
CNN on Monday that the United
States could lose up to 1 million

jobs in March.

The U.S. Travel Association

forecasts a loss of 4.6 million

travel-related jobs this year, most

of them in hotels, but also in air

travel, retail, food services and

entertainment. Those losses

would, by themselves, nearly

double the U.S. unemployment

rate, from 3 .5 percent to 6.3

percent, the industry group said.

For the week ending March 7,

unemployment insurance claims

totaled 211,000, according to

data from t he Labor Department.

Figures through M arch 14 will be

released Thursday morning. But

economists caution that those

tallies will reflect only the begin-

ning of widespread layoffs, which

ramped up in the past several

days as government leaders start-

ed imposing stricter restrictions

on restaurants, bars, hotels, casi-

nos and other venues that draw

large crowds.

Economists are warning that

the coronavirus is pushing the

global economy into recession.

Of the travel industry job loss-

es, hotels have been particularly

hard hit. The American Hotel &

Lodging Association said Tues-

day that 4 million jobs have been

eliminated o r are on the verge of

being lost in the next few weeks.

Chip Rogers, president and chief

executive of the AHLA, said the

hospitality industry faces the

possibility that half of U.S. hotels

could close this year.

Marriott International, the

world’s largest hotel brand, has

started to furlough what it ex-

pects to be tens of thousands of

employees. Some managed prop-

erties began closing last week.

Those who lost their jobs will not

be paid while on furlough, but

they would continue to receive

health-care benefits, the compa-

ny said.

The left-leaning Economic Pol-

icy Institute is putting job losses

at 3 million by the summer, even

with moderate fiscal stimulus.

That pace would be comparable

to the w orst months of the Great

Recession, EPI’s Josh Bivens

wrote.

Manufacturing jobs tend to be

the first to go during a recession.

But Bivens noted that the corona-

virus has sharply targeted low-

wage and low-hours jobs in the

service sector.

“Given that workers in these

sectors are likely to have very

little savings to tide them over

the economy’s downturn, the rip-

ple effect from the first round of

job losses are likely to be far

greater,” Bivens wrote.

A poll released Wednesday by

the Pew Research Center found

that a third of Americans said

they would not get paid if they

are unable to work for two weeks

or more because of the coronavi-

rus and that it would be difficult

to keep up with expenses. Among

adults with family incomes of

$50,000 or less, about half said

they would struggle with day-to-

day expenses.

The White House is working

with congressional Republicans

on a stimulus plan that could

send two $1,000 checks to many

Americans and allocate $300 bil-

lion to help small businesses

avoid layoffs, according to two

senior administration officials

and a Treasury Department fact

sheet. Much has yet to be final-

ized on the $1 trillion emergency

plan.

[email protected]

Unemployment claims skyrocket as layo≠s accelerate

leAH nAsH for tHe WAsHIngton Post

Sean McGuire of Portland, Ore., was laid off Monday from his job as a dishwasher. He spent hours trying to apply for unemployment but

was on hold on the phone for hours and the website crashed. He was so frustrated he came to this court to shoot hoops Monday night.

BY REED ALBERGOTTI

AND HEATHER KELLY

Apple on Wednesday an-
nounced two new computers and
a new iPad, a test of how well it can
manufacture, ship and sell prod-
ucts during the coronavirus out-
break.
Like other firms across the
country, the company’s opera-
tions have been disrupted by the
novel coronavirus. Its Cupertino,
Calif., headquarters i s in a shelter-
in-place zone, it moved its June
WWDC developers conference
online, and it shut down its hun-
dreds of retail stores outside of
“greater China” until at least
March 27.
But Apple is trying to leverage
its size, power and cash reserve to
continue t o ship a nd sell products
during the outbreak. Some of the
devices it announced Wednesday
will be available t o ship as early as
next week.
Manufacturing experts say the
new products were unlikely to
have been affected as much as
other products scheduled for re-
lease later in the year. That is
because the early stages of design-
ing and manufacturing the prod-
uct probably took place many
months before the coronavirus
outbreak.
Apple d eclined to comment.
The announcements are all up-
dates to existing products — the
kind of thing t hat Apple c ommon-
ly does with a news release instead
of one o f its scripted m edia events.
However, the coronavirus shut-
downs could l imit its usual sched-
ule of in-person press events. It’s
still unknown if the company will
hold an event that Apple watchers
expected at the end of March to
announce an update to its new,
lower-end iPhone SE, or will opt
for a news release or live stream.
The company’s s late of updated
gadgets includes an improved
MacBook Air that starts at $999,
an iPad Pro that starts at $ 799 and
a keyboard case that includes a
track pad, giving iPad users the
ability to use it or a Bluetooth
mouse. Apple is also releasing a
refreshed version of its Mac mini
computer that starts at $ 799.
While the next months of
closed stores, lost jobs and self-
isolation will be disastrous for
some of its competitors, such as
smaller hardware players and
start-ups, Apple has the resources

and cash reserve to keep making

and selling its products despite an

expected dip in sales. Apple told

investors Feb. 17 t hat it would m iss

its second-quarter revenue goal

because of a reduction in factory

output and slowing demand in

China linked to the coronavirus.

On Mar. 13, Apple announced

the closure of the rest of its retail

stores around the world, just as it

began to reopen its stores in Chi-

na. Gene Munster, head of re-

search for Loup Ventures, a ven-

ture-capital firm that follows Ap-

ple closely, estimates that about

8 percent of Apple’s sales come

from its retail stores and says that

its store closures will dent its

quarterly revenue by around 1 to 2

percent.

Apple h as sped up it shipping of

products to customers, according

to Munster. By Tuesday, it was

possible to get an iPhone 11 or 11

Pro in two days, down from an

average of nearly seven days on

March 4.

As with m anufacturers around

the world, Apple’s p roduction pro-

cess has been thrown off course by

the coronavirus. First, manufac-

turing in China slowed severely.

Now that the virus is more under

control in China, factories are in-

creasing output and stores are

reopening — b ut U.S. tech workers

are now mostly working from

home, making collaboration and

development slower.

During early development, ex-

perts say, Apple engineers com-

mute frequently between China

and Cupertino to design the prod-

uct and ensure that the manufac-

turing lines are running s moothly.

Apple engineers closely inspect

the manufacturing lines for early

prototypes to spot problems with

the process, former Apple em-

ployees said.

Foxconn, the manufacturing g i-

ant made f amous for handling the

assembly o f many Apple products,

including the iPhone, has made

changes in recent months because

of the virus. One executive who is

working with Foxconn to make a

consumer electronics device said

Foxconn has begun to conduct

videoconferencing calls, in lieu of

trips to China. This had never

been done in the past because of

security concerns, said the per-

son, who spoke on the condition

of anonymity to preserve the rela-

tionship with Foxconn.

Many of Foxconn’s senior engi-

neers have not returned to China,

this person said, and are instead

working from home and video-

conferencing from Ta iwan, where

Foxconn is headquartered.

Foxconn did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

The situation in manufacturing

changes by the day, according to

people making products in China.

Makers of consumer electronics

say they’re facing anywhere from

two to three months o f delays.

[email protected]

[email protected]

 More at washingtonpost.com/

technology

What virus? Apple unveils products.

JennA sCHoenefelD for tHe WAsHIngton Post

A security guard looks at his phone behind the doors of a closed

Apple store i n Santa Monica, Calif., this month.

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