The Covid-19 pandemic continues to weigh heavily on the labor market in the United States with a new jump in jobless claims, making the adoption of a plan to support the economy under discussion in Congress ever more urgent.
Read also: United States: jobless claims continue to climb
Democrats and Republicans now agree: Households and businesses across the country need help, and it is urgent.
“Millions of people are unemployed.
Small businesses are closing.
People struggle to pay their bills, stay in their homes, and put food on their tables.
Congress must adopt a stimulus plan immediately, ”
President-elect Joe Biden tweeted at noon Thursday, who will take office on January 20.
Congress officials, after struggling on the subject for months and spending hours trying unsuccessfully to reach an agreement, began marathon negotiations earlier this week.
Their goal: to agree on a common and final version of the $ 908 billion proposal put together by a group of elected officials from both parties.
A race against time is now on, so that Congress can then vote as quickly as possible, and that millions of Americans do not find themselves, once Christmas has passed, without resources overnight, when the previous measures have expired. .
"We will stay here until we're done, even if that means we have to work this weekend
,
"
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Thursday morning.
He praised, in a speech to the senators,
"the discussions and the progress"
made:
"I think that everyone is working in good harmony to achieve our common goal of obtaining a result"
.
His Democratic colleague Chuck Schumer also assured that no one would leave the Capitol, which houses the Congress, until an agreement is found, and was also optimistic:
"we are getting closer to a compromise"
.
“Tonight, House (of Representatives) and Senate officials worked well.
We started again this morning.
Although many, if not all, of the difficult topics are behind us, there are still some issues to be resolved, ”
he said.
885,000 people registered as unemployed
The country desperately needs this aid, because the unprecedented rise in Covid-19 cases has again weakened the American economy Many local officials, including those most resistant to containment measures, have taken the decision to close a part of the activity, especially bars and restaurants.
This led to further layoffs, and self-employed workers again saw their incomes drop.
Thus, in one week, between December 6 and 12, 885,000 people registered as unemployed, the equivalent of the population of San Francisco (California).
This represents an increase of 23,000 people from registrations recorded the previous week, which were already on the rise, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor.
The total number of beneficiaries of unemployment benefit, however, continues to decline, with 5.5 million people between November 29 and December 5, or 273,000 people less than the previous week.
But this drop is not just the result of hiring.
Many unemployed people are in effect at the end of their rights, with aid being paid to the United States for a maximum of six months.
They then switch to the aid programs set up in the spring in the face of the pandemic, which make it possible to extend the benefit of allowances or to open them to people who are not usually entitled to them, such as the self-employed.
Thus in total, 20.7 million Americans received unemployment or one of these aids during the last week of November, according to the latest data available, or 1.6 million more than the previous week.
It is this aid which expires at the end of December, and the next few weeks are therefore expected to be difficult.
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