Free Republic

The death of those extra $600 weekly unemployment payments now seems imminent. Republicans are intent on ending the enhancement to jobless benefits, created by the CARES Act in late March to prop up household income for the millions who've lost their jobs to the coronavirus pandemic.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that the state had discovered a “massive” unemployment fraud scheme, bilking the state’s unemployment insurance fund of more than $500 million dollars, and possibly stealing much more from other states across the country on Wednesday. Governor Hogan held a press conference to announce the discovery of the fraud ring by the state. The organized fraudsters allegedly used information stolen from the state from previous data briefs to impersonate the identity of tens of thousands of people, filing 47,500 fraudulent unemployment insurance claims. The state currently believes that approximately $501 million in unemployment insurance benefits were...

<p>The June blockbuster jobs report is more evidence that the economy is healing, but this remains a brutal period for the some 30 million still unemployed Americans.</p> <p>Nearly every industry -- with very few exceptions -- has been forced to impose layoffs, furloughs or dramatic reductions in hours for its employees. The one major exception has been the United States federal government, which has had virtually no layoffs since the start of the year. Since January, federal employment has risen slightly, in part due to Census workers added. Meanwhile, through May, the construction industry has lost nearly 400,000 workers; manufacturing has lost 750,000 workers; retail trade has lost 1.25 million workers; health care and education have lost 1.75 million workers, and the hospitality industry has lost almost 5 million workers.</p>

Thursday, July 2, 2020:President Donald J. Trump holds a Press Briefing

VIDEO The reaction of much of the media to the fantastic June unemployment report reveals why they have been in overdrive recently hyping the rise in Coronavirus cases. Of course, included in those cases are asymptomatic people as well as those who have RECOVERED from COVID-19 but have antibodies in their systems. Meanwhile, if you have been following my videos, tweets, and Newsbusters reports, then you know that while the media continues to report the increased cases they RARELY reveal the very important fact that the daily death numbers are in a steep decline. Since the media is DESPERATE...

UPDATE: President Trump held a press briefing at the White House and reacted to the numbers.  Consumer confidence is up and 80 percent of small businesses are now open! pic.twitter.com/MOkEaO4NZR— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 2, 2020 A look at June's HISTORIC jobs numbers: 2.1 million leisure & hospitality jobs740,000 retail jobs568,000 education & healthcare jobs357,000 service jobs356,000 manufacturing jobs ???? ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/BzcSFXaxv6— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 2, 2020 ***Original post***The jobs numbers for June are in and they've blown way past expectations with 4.8 million positions created."Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 4.8 million in June, and...

Some "nonessential" businesses that are trying to reopen are experiencing difficulty in persuading furloughed workers to come back to work. The problem is that the unemployment compensation benefit granted in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is more than the wages that many can earn from working. President Trump has proposed to remedy this by converting the unemployment benefit into a bonus for those who go back to work. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) called Trump's proposal "a thinly disguised attempt to reinstitute slavery. He is trying to trick people we have liberated from work. As I...

Shocking images have revealed the depth of the unemployment crisis in the coronavirus pandemic, after thousands of people in Kentucky lined up to wait at a makeshift unemployment office. State officials on Tuesday set up the makeshift unemployment office near the State Capitol, hoping to offer assistance to outraged residents planning to hold a protest there over their unpaid benefits. Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has said the most updated numbers he has show 7,566 unemployment claims from March still remain unpaid, along with 27,507 from April and 17,619 from May.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) destroyed countless jobs in her state by imposing a series of authoritarian Coronavirus lockdown orders....Now she’s telling unemployed healthcare workers waiting for their unemployment benefits to eat hot dogs.

Donald Trump is looking to replace the $600 a week Pandemic Unemployment Benefit with a back-to-work bonus that will incentivize working for many of the 30 million people currently receiving the enhanced benefit. The benefit is set to expire July 31 and Democrats want to expand it into next year. A study done by the Federal Reserve found that the federal unemployment benefit was making it difficult for companies to hire workers as the economy reopens following the lockdown.Barrons: Even though the unemployment rate is expected to register over 20% for May in the jobs report the Bureau of Labor...

This is a subject that we’ve been covering here ever since the coronavirus stimulus bill was first being debated in Congress. Having passed a measure providing enhanced unemployment benefits with no cap on the amount of the payments based on the worker’s previous rate of pay, a condition was created where a majority of the unemployed are now collecting more than they did on their last job. That doesn’t provide much of an incentive to go back to work, particularly if you can point to your concerns about the virus as a reason to stay home.In Idaho, Republican Governor...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — WorkForce West Virginia has received 35,000 fraudulent claims for unemployment since June 1. Gov. Jim Justice and WorkForce West Virginia acting Commissioner Scott Adkins detailed the fraud during Justice’s coronavirus media briefing Friday at the state capitol. According to Adkins, the fraud is coming through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program that was created the CARES Act. The program provides unemployment benefits for residents who usually aren’t eligible for unemployment like those who are self-employed. Adkins said the scammers are using personal information obtained earlier this year from national data breaches. He said they’ve been able to...

Looks like Steve Mnuchin didn’t entirely buy the idea that the country’s economic woes over the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown are over, either. Nor should he, as today’s weekly initial jobless claims report attests. Despite the surprising return to work shown in May, new jobless claims continued at pre-COVID-19 record levels, although still slowing: In the week ending June 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,542,000, a decrease of 355,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 20,000 from 1,877,000 to 1,897,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,002,000,...

Rose Garden10:30 A.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  This is a very big day for our country.  It’s affirmation of all the work we’ve been doing, really, for three and a half years.  This isn’t just over the last few months; this is for three and a half years.  And it’s a great thing.  We were very strong.  We had the greatest economy in the history of our country.  We had the greatest economy in the history of the world.  And that strength let us get through this horrible pandemic, largely through.  I think we’re doing really...

Summary of graphs and data analysis: Newly reported cases by total confirmed cases Log of cumulative reported patients Plots by country with ridge regression models Mathematical Presentation of COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics Calculating deaths per 1% increase in unemployment Calculating deaths per million

VIDEO Democrat economist Steve Rattner who, as you can see, predicted doom and gloom for employment in April was absolutely SHOCKED by the May jobs report which showed a sharp rise in employment. Also note that back in April he seemed to hopefully anticipate double-digit unemployment on Election Day. A possibility that was probably shattered by the latest jobs report.

If Congress extends boosted temporary unemployment benefits into early 2021, nearly five out of every six beneficiaries would be earning more money by not working—likely slowing the labor force's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. That's according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which on Thursday sent a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R–Iowa) outlining some of the potential consequences if Congress votes to extend those boosted unemployment benefits through the end of January. As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed in March, Congress added an additional $600 to unemployment checks above and beyond whatever...

A positive sign for the US economy today with the unemployment rate dropping to 13.3 percent last month, an improvement from April's 14.7... The Mayor of Washngton DC, Democrat Muriel Bowser, renaming the plaza near the White House "Black Lives Matter Plaza" with the name "Black Lives Matter" spelled out in large yellow letters on the street there. Her move not looked upon positively by the "Black Lives Matter" organization which said her move was: "a performative distraction from real policy changes" and "a way to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands"...... Questions being asked about the federal law...

VIDEO There was quite a bit of shock today when it was announced that the unemployment rate DECLINED in May despite most economists predicting it would rise to 20%. Here are a few shocked reactions to the May jobs report. My favorite reaction is from the angry guy who is whining that the unemployment really rose but that the stats were faked by the Labor Department.

Stocks rose sharply Friday after the U.S. May jobs report showed a surprise 2.5 million jump in payrolls and a drop in the unemployment rate to 13.3% as businesses began to reopen from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. How are benchmarks performing? The Dow Jones Industrial Average US:DJIA jumped 950 points, or 3.6%, to 27,226, while the S&P 500 US:SPX rose 88 points, or 2.9%, to 3,201. The Nasdaq Composite US:COMP advanced 191 points, or 2%, to 9,807 and was briefly trading above its record closing level of 9,817.18 set on Feb. 19. The Nadaq-100 US:NDX , meanwhile, rose 171 points,...