District of Columbia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A total of 385,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment insurance assistance for the week that ended May 29, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. These claims were a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week’s revised unemployment claims of 405,000 and were lower than Dow Jones economists’ estimates of 425,000. This week’s claims were again the lowest number of claims since March 14, 2020, which saw 225,500 claims. The May employment report comes out on Friday, June 4. Economists predict that the report will show that 671,000 jobs have been added to the economy in the month of May, according to the Wall Street Journal. The news outlet also reports that economists expect to see the unemployment rate has decreased to 5.9 percent last month from 6.1 percent in April.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A total of 406,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment insurance assistance for the week that ended May 22, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. These claims were a decrease of 38,000 from last week’s unrevised unemployment claims of 444,000 and were lower than Dow Jones economists’ estimates of 425,000. This week’s claims were the lowest claims since March 14, 2020, which had 256,000 claims. Continuing claims, data of which lags a week, decreased by 96,000 to 3.64 million, according to CNBC. Some states are recovering better than others during the pandemic-induced recession, according to the Department of Labor. For the week ending in May 15, there were large increases in initial claims in New Jersey, Washington, West Virginia and Rhode Island. For the same week, there were large decreases in initial claims in Georgia, Kentucky, Texas, Michigan and Florida.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A total of 444,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment insurance assistance for the week that ended May 15, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. These claims were a decrease of 34,000 from last week’s revised unemployment claims of 478,000 and were the fewest that have been registered since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 14, 2020, claims totaled 225,500. This week’s claims were slightly better than the Dow Jones estimate of 452,000, according to CNBC. Continuing claims, which lags a week, increased by 111,000 to 3.75 million. Approximately 1.8 million people a day receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and less people are getting pandemic-related governmental assistance. Governmental assistance packages related to the pandemic are scheduled to expire in September, according to CNBC.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A total of 473,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment insurance assistance for the week that ended May 8, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. These claims were a decrease of 34,000 from last week’s revised unemployment claims of 507,000 and were the lowest level the claims have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The claims are still double than what they were before the pandemic started. Following government stimulus checks and expanded unemployment benefits, some employers have decided to pay their workers more, in order to incentivize them to stay working. By the end of June, Chipotle Mexican Grill says it plans to raise its hourly wages to $15 an hour, as well as a $200 employee referral bonus for current employees. McDonald’s has also announced it is raising the hourly wages for its U.S. company-owned restaurants by an average of 10 percent. The Wall Street Journal reports that in the week that ended April 17, 16.2 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits. The newspaper also reports that average hourly earnings have risen by 21 cents to $30.17 in April for private-sector employees.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) has publicly stated that there should no longer be a nationwide eviction moratorium, a position the Washington, D.C.-based organization has held for the better part of a year. The statement is in response to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich on Wednesday, May 5, to vacate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction ban that began last year and was extended through June 2021. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lost their jobs and could not pay their rent, according to the NMHC. In April 2020, there was a spike in unemployment claims with 14.8 percent of Americans unemployed. The CDC implemented a nationwide eviction moratorium, which would ensure that Americans who had lost their jobs or were struggling financially were not going to become homeless due to the pandemic. The NMHC stated that it believes the eviction moratorium is no longer a necessary solution with unemployment numbers decreasing and more and more people getting one of the three available COVID-19 vaccines. The association added that the best solution to help people afford their living situations is to provide Americans with the resources …