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December jobs report provides a clear picture of Trump’s failed handling of the economy
1/n https://www.epi.org/press/december-jobs-report-provides-a-clear-picture-of-trumps-failed-handling-of-the-economy/
1/n https://www.epi.org/press/december-jobs-report-provides-a-clear-picture-of-trumps-failed-handling-of-the-economy/
Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the last jobs report of 2020, which is also the last jobs report we will receive while Trump is president—a presidency that ushered in historic job losses and insurrection.
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https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
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https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
The report showed that jobs fell by 140,000 in December—an unequivocal disaster for the state of the economic recovery. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inadequate federal response, job growth waned throughout the fall and fell outright in December.
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The year ends with 9.8 million fewer jobs than before the pandemic recession hit in February and 546,000 fewer jobs than the start of Trump’s presidency in January 2016.
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Holiday hiring didn’t pick up enough to make up for other factors dragging down job growth. Employment declined in leisure and hospitality, a fall of 498,000 jobs. That sector remains 3.9 million jobs below where it was before the pandemic recession hit.
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State and local government employment continued to decline for four months in a row in December and is now experiencing a shortfall of 1.4 million from pre-pandemic conditions. About three quarters of these losses—over 1 million jobs—are in education.
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The third wave of COVID-19 has meant rising caseloads, hospitalizations, and deaths and reshuttering of many businesses. The number of workers on temporary layoffs has increased for the first time since April, rising by 277,00 between November and December.
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Overall unemployment was unchanged, but long-term unemployment (27 weeks and over) continues to rise, increasing by 27,000 in December. The share of the unemployed who have been unemployed at least 27 weeks is now at 37.1%.
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The latest congressional relief bill was an important step to relieve some of this pain by extending UI, but it is not at the scale of the problem. Without additional relief, millions of workers will exhaust the extended benefits in mid-March.
https://www.epi.org/blog/first-ui-claims-of-2021-are-still-higher-than-the-worst-of-the-great-recession/
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https://www.epi.org/blog/first-ui-claims-of-2021-are-still-higher-than-the-worst-of-the-great-recession/
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It is far from true that “everyone” is working from home because of the pandemic. Only 23.7% of employed people report having teleworked or worked at home in the last four weeks because of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic data reveal relevant disparities:
https://www.epi.org/blog/black-and-hispanic-workers-are-much-less-likely-to-be-able-to-work-from-home/
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https://www.epi.org/blog/black-and-hispanic-workers-are-much-less-likely-to-be-able-to-work-from-home/
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In December, Black unemployment improved but remains elevated at 9.9%, just below the worst overall unemployment rate of the Great Recession (peak at 10.0%). Hispanic unemployment experienced a significant increase from 8.4% in November to 9.3% in December.
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Remember: The COVID-19 pandemic magnified pre-existing disparities and Black and Latinx working people have experienced massive health and economic devastation.
https://www.epi.org/press/latinx-workers-particularly-women-have-faced-some-of-the-most-damaging-economic-and-health-effects-of-the-coronavirus/
https://www.epi.org/publication/black-workers-covid/
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https://www.epi.org/press/latinx-workers-particularly-women-have-faced-some-of-the-most-damaging-economic-and-health-effects-of-the-coronavirus/
https://www.epi.org/publication/black-workers-covid/
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On pre-existing disparities, note that the white unemployment rate in December is exactly the same as the much touted Black unemployment rate in the before times. No one would claim today that white workers are thriving. Why did anyone claim that was true for Black workers then?
President-elect Biden inherits an economy that has been decimated by Trump, who not only presided over outright job losses, but also enacted a litany of anti-worker policy decisions and squandered the labor market strength he inherited.
https://www.epi.org/publication/50-reasons/
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https://www.epi.org/publication/50-reasons/
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Hopefully, the economy will get more desperately needed support in 2021 from the new Congress. Their top priorities must be aid to state and local governments and further extensions of unemployment insurance.
https://www.epi.org/blog/state-and-local-governments-still-desperately-need-federal-fiscal-aid-to-prevent-harmful-austerity-measures/
https://www.epi.org/blog/reinstating-and-extending-the-pandemic-unemployment-insurance-programs-through-2021-could-create-or-save-5-1-million-jobs/
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https://www.epi.org/blog/state-and-local-governments-still-desperately-need-federal-fiscal-aid-to-prevent-harmful-austerity-measures/
https://www.epi.org/blog/reinstating-and-extending-the-pandemic-unemployment-insurance-programs-through-2021-could-create-or-save-5-1-million-jobs/
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More bad news from @hshierholz on the economy President-elect Biden is inheriting. 26.8 million workers are being directly hurt by the COVID-19 crisis. https://www.epi.org/blog/the-economy-president-elect-biden-is-inheriting-26-8-million-workers-15-8-of-the-workforce-are-being-directly-hurt-by-the-coronavirus-crisis/
