The number of new applications for unemployment benefits has held steady through September at just below 900,000 a week, indicating businesses remain unable to hire back workers or are reluctant to do so before the COVID virus is contained.
During the week ended 18 September, the number of new claims edged up to 870,000 from 866,000 the week previous.
While some businesses are hiring, others are no longer able to retain workers who they kept in hopes of a V-shaped economic recovery that has not materialized.
Many companies which have brought back workers are finding consumer demand still too soft to staff up to pre-pandemic levels.
The number of gig workers and self-employed people collecting benefits under a special federal support program for them was about 11 million at the beginning of this month, down three million from a week earlier, due largely to gains in California.
However, the number is widely seen as unreliable, due in part to allegations of fraud and abuse.
Consumer spending also slowed in August, with manufacturing and service businesses also reporting slowing demand.
TREND FORECAST: Absent a market crash, the next round of government stimulus into the public sector will again artificially pump up the retail sector from now through the Christmas season.
