Almost a million people applied for unemployment assistance for the first time in the United States last week,
the highest number of applications (
965,000) registered since August, and which has surpassed the forecasts of the specialists.
Meanwhile, federal aid for the jobless is beginning to reach the states, but still with delays.
[How to track your pandemic aid check. The IRS enabled a tool]
The labor market is unable to recover from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus, which has worsened in recent weeks due to the explosion of infections in the country.
The United States still has
10 million fewer jobs
than before the pandemic.
The number of jobless claims for last week, released Thursday by the Labor Department,
exceeds the forecasts of experts
, who expected some 800,000 applications, although it is far from the record of seven million orders registered in March.
Weekly jobless claims skyrocketed in January.
Telemundo News
"Even once vaccine distribution starts to take a toll on the number of cases, it will still be a long way to a full economic recovery," AnnElizabeth Konkel, economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, told NBC News.
The impact on the little ones
Latino and black families
are twice as likely to suffer economic and health consequences from the pandemic compared to whites and Asians, according to an analysis of Census data released this Friday.
Federal benefits are thus a crucial help for these families, who are struggling to cover basic expenses such as food and housing.
[The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, the latest report from the Trump presidency]
The nonpartisan research organization Child Trends analyzed the Census survey responses and found that
29% of Latino households and 31% of Black households
with children are facing three or more difficulties due to the pandemic.
These include unemployment, difficulty paying expenses, not keeping up with rent or mortgage, as well as lack of food and health insurance, and physical and mental health problems.
"
The stress that families and parents experience definitely seeps into their children,
" alerted Dana Thomson, researcher for Child Trends and co-author of the report, to our sister network NBC News.
The little ones feel the stress of the older ones both directly and indirectly.
"If a family doesn't pay rent and has to move, that also has a huge impact on a child's stability and environment," Thomson explained.
This government program can help pay hospital bills for COVID-19 patients
Jan. 11, 202102: 49
Experts say this suggests that
inequalities are not just based on income
, but there are other reasons.
Black and Latino people are less likely than whites to receive unemployment benefits.
Additionally, these families are more likely to have little or no access to a bank account, making it difficult for them to receive some COVID-19 relief funds.
Some immigrant and mixed immigration families may also face additional barriers to accessing existing resources and services.
The pandemic, in the end,
has
only
exacerbated problems of systemic racism and violence
, the researchers say.
Children choose their toys at a Los Angeles aid center around Christmas time 2020. AP
[Latinos who did not receive the first aid check will enjoy the second]
Without government help, families can be totally overwhelmed.
"Difficulties just overwhelm them and they can cascade into multiple areas of their lives," Thomson said.
The expert believes that
integrated services are needed
and that families know, for example, that if they receive food assistance cards, called SNAP, they may also be eligible for unemployment benefits and Medicaid.
More help arrives, but with delays
The extra money in unemployment benefits that Congress approved in the $ 900 billion aid package at the end of December began to find its way into the pockets of the nation's families.
However,
the funds arrive late
.
The new stimulus agreement grants a weekly help of $ 300 for unemployment until March 14 and extends for 11 weeks the two unemployment programs that were created at the beginning of the pandemic with the CARES Act and expired in December.
Many recipients of these expired programs have to wait for systems to update and payments to restart.
About half the states
should be paying $ 300 this week, Michele Evermore, senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, told CNN.
Experts had warned that many state agencies would take two to three weeks to update their systems.
Latinos are three times more hospitalized for coronavirus and have a higher risk of dying
Jan. 10, 202102: 09
Some states, including
New York
and
California
, moved quickly to grant the benefits.
The California Employment Development Department, for example, had paid a total of $ 434 million in federal aid to more than 1 million recipients as of Tuesday.
In other states, jobless residents have not yet received subsidies, such as Ohio, where no applications can be made at this time.
With information from NBC News and CNN.