JOBS RALLY MAY BE FLAGGING

Despite surveys indicating the recession in America is over, new claims for unemployment benefits remained at 884,000 for the week ending 4 September, the same number as the previous week.

The number was worse than analysts’ estimates of 850,000.

New claims peaked at seven million in March, then began to ease. The pace of re-employment has slowed, and new claims for benefits consistently remain well above the 695,000 weekly peak seen during the Great Recession.

The number of continuing claims for the week was 13.4 million, an increase of 93,000 from the week before.

In late August, about 29.6 million people were receiving various forms of state or federal aid related to being un- or under-employed.

The rate at which new jobs are being advertised has slowed sharply since July and stands about 20 percent below the rate a year ago, according to Indeed.com, a job-search website.

The number of American workers without jobs peaked at about 15 percent in April, dropped to 10.2 percent in July, and 8.4 percent in August.

TREND FORECAST: The weak job number will grow weaker as fears persist that a second coronavirus wave will hit in autumn and winter months. Governments’ continuing and/or increasing lockdown rules will severely damage already weakened business sectors and COVID worried consumer masses will go out less and spend less.