“With infections continuing to rise at an
elevated pace and curbs on business operations
widening, layoffs are likely to pick up over
coming weeks,’’ said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S.
economist at High Frequency Economics.
The government said he total number of people
who are continuing to receive traditional
state unemployment benefits dropped to 6.1
million from 6.4 million the previous week. That
figure has been declining for months. It shows
that more Americans are finding jobs and no
longer receiving unemployment aid. But it also
indicates that many jobless people have used up
their state unemployment aid — which typically
expires after six months.
More Americans are collecting benefits under
programs that were set up to cushion the
economic pain from the pandemic. For the
week of Nov. 7, the number of people collecting
benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance program — which offers coverage
to gig workers and others who don’t qualify for
traditional aid — rose by 466,000 to 9.1 million.
And the number of people receiving aid under
the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment
Compensation program — which offers 13
weeks of federal benefits to those who have
exhausted state jobless aid — rose by 132,000 to
4.5 million.
The data firm Womply says that 21% of small
businesses were shuttered at the start of
this month, reflecting a steady increase from
June’s 16% rate. Consumer spending at local
businesses is down 27% this month from a year
ago, marking a deterioration from a 20% year-
over-year drop in October, Womply found.