Unemployment

U.S. Billionaires Have Made $584 Billion During the Pandemic

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
7 July 2020

According to experts, the coronavirus pandemic has deepened economic inequality and expanded the racial wealth gap across the U.S. While the unemployment rate for white workers sits at 12.4 percent, the rate among black and Hispanic workers has gone up…

1.5 Million People Applied for Unemployment Last Week

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
18 June 2020

Tens of millions of Americans have filed for unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic. This historically high number increased by another 1.5 million last week as many people continue to struggle to make ends meet. Although the gradual reopening of businesses…

WSJ: “How Airbnb Fell From Successful Startup to Crisis Mode”

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
1 June 2020

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at how Airbnb hosts are struggling after the travel industry came to a standstill due to widespread stay-at-home orders. This video explains in greater detail why the once successful startup was so vulnerable to an…

Vox: “Why we’re seeing mass layoffs in the US but not the UK”

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
29 May 2020

With tens of millions of Americans currently out of work, the U.S. is experiencing an unemployment crisis on a scale not seen since the height of the Great Depression. This video looks at the devastating effects of rising joblessness while…

Women Account for 55 Percent of Coronavirus Job Losses

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
13 May 2020

Last month, 20.5 million people lost their jobs, sending the unemployment rate skyrocketing to 14.7 percent. Economists predict that the actual jobless rate could be even worse when factoring in people who are out of work but not collecting unemployment benefits. Experts also expect that things will only get worse in May as job cuts spread to white-collar workers. “It’s devastating,” said Ryan Sweet of Moody’s Analytics. “There’s someone behind each of these numbers. It’s going to take years to recover from this. There’s a case to be made that a lot of these are temporary layoffs, so hopefully people can return to work quickly as we begin to reopen the economy — but there’s no guarantee in that.”

Disneyworld Faces Longest Shutdown in its History

Audrieanna Burgin
28 April 2020

Disney has furloughed 100,000 theme park and hotel workers, including popular cast members. Disney is widely considered the largest employer in the nation and this furlough is expected to save the company a reported $500 million a month. The furlough is centralized in Florida where over 70,000 workers have been furloughed. An employee furlough is when staff members are required to take an unpaid leave of absence. According to an NBC News article, “Some 26,000 of those workers are members of UNITE and thanks to an agreement worked out with Disney before the layoffs, they will be automatically be enrolled in the unemployment program, the union said in a statement.” UNITE is a labor union representing workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hotel, gaming, food service, airport, textile, manufacturing, distribution, laundry, and transportation industries.

Small Businesses Have Trouble Securing Vital Loans

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
7 April 2020

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused countless restaurants and stores across the country to alter their services or close entirely, some for as long as a month so far. This stretch of downtime has been devastating for many small businesses that usually get by on week-to-week sales. At Old Town Pizza & Brewing in Portland, Oregon, owner Adam Milne had to lay off two-thirds of his staff as the brewpub transitioned into carry-out only service. In the process he racked up nearly $25,000 in credit card debt to pay for rent, utilities, and other mounting expenses. Although Milne has tried to secure a small business loan to stay afloat, he’s had no success so far.

Innovative Ways some Restaurants are responding to COVID-19

Audrieanna Burgin
2 April 2020

The restaurant and service industries in our nation have been severely impacted by COVID-19. The Food Action Policy released a detailed blog regarding ways Congress can assist the restaurant industry during this time. The FPA states that the restaurant industry is crucial to our economy, contributing “$1 trillion to our economy and representing 4% of our gross domestic product.” Restaurants all over the nation are closed due to COVD-19. “Up to seven million people have been laid off, and millions of farmers, beverage suppliers, delivery people, manufacturers, launderers, and other small businesses will have their bills go unpaid, creating an unprecedented trickle-down effect of damage to these local restaurants and their communities.” The FPA estimates a $225 Billion loss in revenue over the next 3 months.

3.3 Million Americans Applied for Unemployment Last Week

NickelsMcHughMcHugh
27 March 2020

After the federal government placed a ban on gatherings of ten or more people last Monday, restaurants and bars across the country either closed or drastically altered their operations. Although such measures are necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus, countless businesses have had to furlough workers or lay them off entirely as a result. In fact, statistics released by the Labor Department this morning found that a record 3.3 million Americans applied to receive unemployment benefits last week.

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