The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a 19-month low last week, the US Labor Department reported Thursday.
First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 290,000 for the week ending Oct. 16, down 6,000 from the previous week. It marks the second week in a row that claims fell below 300,000.
Amazon.com Inc (Nasdaq: AMZN) is giving its tech and corporate employees more flexibility to work remotely even after the company begins to reopen its offices early next year.
On Monday, Amazon’s chief executive officer Andy Jassy said the company will leave it up to each individual team’s director to determine how often workers must come into the office. This marks a change from the company’s previous expectation that most employees would be back at their desks three days per week when offices fully reopen in January 2022.
New orders for U.S.-made goods accelerated in August, pointing to sustained strength in manufacturing even as economic growth appeared to have slowed in the third quarter because of shortages of raw materials and labor.
The Commerce Department said on Monday that factory orders increased 1.2% in August. Data for July was revised higher to show orders rising 0.7% in July instead of gaining 0.4% as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders gaining 1.0%.
CVS Health Corporation (NYSE: CVS) plans to fill as many as 25,000 clinical and retail jobs nationwide ahead of the flu season and as the US prepares to roll out COVID-19 booster shots.
On Monday, the largest pharmacy chain by number of stores said that most of the openings are for temporary, full-time and part-time licensed pharmacists, trained pharmacy technicians, nurses and retail workers.
Americans opened their wallets and spent last month, giving retail sales an unexpected rebound after plunging the month before, the US Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The continued surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide, however, has changed where Americans are spending their money.
The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly 18 months, offering more evidence that job growth was being hindered by labor shortages rather than cooling demand for workers.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 310,000 for the week ended Sept. 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Inspired by the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are pushing for a modern counterpart: a Civilian Climate Corps that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs building trails, restoring streams and helping prevent catastrophic wildfires.
Building on Biden’s oft-repeated comment that when he thinks of climate change, he thinks of jobs, the White House says the $10 billion program would address both priorities as young adults find work installing solar panels, planting trees, digging irrigation ditches and boosting outdoor recreation.
Half of U.S. small-business owners reported unfilled job openings in August as finding qualified workers remains an ongoing challenge, a trade group said on Thursday.
The National Federation of Independent Business said in its monthly jobs report that 50% of small business owners reported unfilled job openings in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 49% in July. August's reading is 28 percentage points higher than the 48-year average of 22%.
Walmart said on Thursday that it plans to raise wages for more than 565,000 store workers by at least $1 an hour, as the all-important holiday shopping season is set to kick off in the middle of a desperate labor crunch across the country.
With its third wage investment over the past year, Walmart's U.S. average hourly wage is now $16.40, Walmart U.S. Chief Executive John Furner said in a memo to staff.
Millions of jobless Americans who have depended on federal unemployment aid as a financial lifeline are about to lose those benefits just as the delta variant of the coronavirus poses a renewed threat to the economy and the job market.
Two programs — one that provides jobless aid to self-employed and gig workers, the other to people who’ve been unemployed for more than six months — will expire Monday. As a result, 8.9 million people will lose those weekly benefit payments, according to an estimate by Oxford Economics.
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