"Unemployment will remain elevated as workers learn of generous benefits..."

[EarthFirst]

The COVID-19 pandemic rages on, and the damage being done to the U.S. economy is expected to only get worse.

The U.S. Labor Department will release fresh data at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning that will show the effect of the novel coronavirus on employment in the U.S. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits is expected to spike to a record-breaking 3.7 million for the week ended March 28, up from 3.283 million the week prior. Prior to the week ended March 21, the previous record was 695,000 claims filed the week ended October 2, 1982.

Though consensus estimates were for 3.7 million initial jobless claims for the week ended March 28, the range of estimates on Wall Street are wide, but the major firms expect the number to be in the millions. On the high end, Goldman Sachs expects 6 million claims for the week. Not far behind are Bank of America and Pantheon Macroeconomics expecting 5.5 million claims, while on the lower end, JPMorgan Asset Management predicts 2 million claims.

Claims are likely to remain elevated throughout April, especially as more business owners and workers learn about the more generous unemployment insurance benefits included in the Phase 3 legislation,“ Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle argued.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-covid-weekly-initial-jobless-claims-march-28-165758189.html

No; the workforce isn’t terrified of COVID; they’re just looking forward to the opportunity to sit home; lazy; and collect the generous outpouring of unemployment benefits...

/sarcasm

We lost one full time income permanently; our retirement savings decimated; and our healthcare evaporated from the fallout to the pandemic.

I can assure you that this “generous” conciliatory gesture is devastating to our household.

Who writes this sh*t?

[DEbluedude]

1. Goldman Sachs economist says...n/t

[EarthFirst]

2. Exactly. nt

[Moostache]

3. Who writes it is a good question...a better question is who the fuck BELIEVES it???

It takes a special kind of warped mind to see through this fucked up, acid-trip prism of reality....where people are GLAD to be receiving desperation level 'benefits'?

JF'nC...to actually SEE the world through that lens is monstrous and why the old system has to completely die during this crisis and be replaced with something else, something...anything better. Otherwise, the dead are dying in vain, the heroes risking all for them are doing so in vain and we will be back here again too soon to ponder...

[ck4829]

4. Yes, benefits like drastically increasing your chances of not getting or spreading COVID

These guys provide ammo for those who make caricatures of capitalism.

[dewsgirl]

5. I used to help a friend file for his, he wasn't internet savvy.

He recieved maybe 275 a week and had to jump through hoops to receive those. What are these generous benefits they are speaking of?

[True Blue American]

7. Reason

5 Republicans, including Lindsey tried to derail the bill because it provided $600 a week! More than some of them make! The hypocrisy of those making huge salaries for destroying the country upset a worker might get a few dollars more is sickening.

I hope the voters remember this!

[Cosmocat]

8. I have been on UEC twice in the last two decades

And it has been horrible.

[beachbumbob]

6. because business wants SLAVE labor rates and the thought they would have to "raise" pay to attract

workers is abhorrent to them

[librechik]

18. TRUE DAT!!!

[haele]

9. Ummm, that's not how unemployment works...

You still have to either be out looking for a job in your location for unemployment. If people are hiring, you have to take any reasonable offer for your training/skills or explain why you aren't going to take it. After being on unemployment for three weeks, I took the offer of an engineering position that wasn't going to start for another four weeks and still had to go to a UE hearing on week six to explain why I stopped looking before they would pay the final two weeks. Even though I was going to start work again in two weeks.
Most states won't allow you to stop applying for jobs. You aren't going to be just sitting at home if jobs are available, even if they're going to be paying a bit more.
That is, unless you're a Republican with the emotional maturity of privileged 12 year old who privately thinks "real work" is sitting in a big chair pontificating and running business like a personal ATM. That labor is for chumps and idiots.

Haele.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Excellent Post

Nicely done, haele!

[thesquanderer]

14. Those rules do not currently apply. (n/t)

[riversedge]

11. I find it to be a very demeaning comment. damn

............Claims are likely to remain elevated throughout April, especially as more business owners and workers learn about the more generous unemployment insurance benefits included in the Phase 3 legislation,“ Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle argued.

[thesquanderer]

19. I think that line is being misinterpreted in the OP.

To me, the implication here is not necessarily that workers are "looking forward to the opportunity to sit home; lazy; and collect the generous outpouring of unemployment benefits." Rather than being demeaning. I think it reflects some simple realities.

For example, a compassionate business owner trying hard to not fire people or cut their hours may be more willing to let those people go once s/he sees a stronger safety net being provided for them. A worker who is at higher risk (older, health conditions) may be more willing to stay home and safe rather than work, once s/he knows there will be enough money coming in to make that option more viable.

IOW, it is simply logical that the availability of better unemployment support will factor into people's decisions about employment. I don't think this implies laziness on anyone's part.

[Celerity]

12. The same fool who said this just 3 months ago: Don't look now, but Goldman Sachs is saying the

economy is nearly recession-proof

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/31/goldman-sachs-is-saying-the-economy-is-nearly-recession-proof.html

“Overall, the changes underlying the Great Moderation appear intact, and we see the economy as structurally less recession-prone today,” Goldman economists Jan Hatzius and David Mericle wrote. “While new risks could emerge, none of the main sources of recent recessions — oil shocks, inflationary overheating, and financial imbalances — seem too concerning for now. As a result, the prospects for a soft landing look better than widely thought.”

[Dirty Socialist]

13. Goldman Sachs Cares...

About its fucking money!

[Blecht]

15. Another monster

David Fucking Mericle

Add him to the list of people that I hope I never run into -- I really don't want to commit a violent crime.

[lame54]

16. For many it's the first break they've had in years...

But people want to work
The longer this goes on the more they will want to get back to it

[greenjar_01]

17. Soon...

?itemid=12604431

[tritsofme]

20. This is rather disturbing.