3.8 million people filed for unemployment last week, the Labor Department announced Thursday.
Why it matters: While the pace of unemployment filings has slowed since its peak in late March, the number of workers who have lost their jobs in recent weeks — as efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic slammed the labor market — tops 30 million.
Between the lines: State labor departments have been overwhelmed by the rush of people seeking unemployment benefits. Continue reading.
Trump promised to put more money in people’s pocket. Instead, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they’re not better off financially. Meanwhile, manufacturing is in decline and the unemployment rate continues to increase in key states.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they’re not better off financially than they were when Trump was elected.
Financial Times: “Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are not better off financially than they were when Donald Trump was elected, casting doubt on whether economic expansion and a record bull market will boost the president’s re-election campaign in 2020. According to a poll of likely voters conducted by the Financial Times and the Peter G Peterson Foundation, 31 percent of Americans say they are now worse off financially than they were at the start of Mr Trump’s presidency. Another 33 per cent say there has been no change in their financial position since Mr Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, while 35 per cent say they are better off.” Continue reading “Two-Thirds of Americans Say Trump Has Not Helped Them Financially”
President Donald Trump attacked foreign carmakers on Friday — while postponing a tariff increase for six months — which led Japanese carmaker Toyota to make what could be a veiled threat by pointing out that they are the force behind 475,000 jobs in the United States, one way or another.
According to a report in Bloomberg, “In an unusually strong-worded statement, Japan’s largest automaker said Trump’s proclamation Friday that the U.S. needs to defend itself against foreign cars and components ‘sends a message to Toyota that our investments are not welcomed.’ The company said it has spent more than $60 billion building operations in the country, including 10 manufacturing plants.”
In the statement, Toyota made a pointed reference to how many Toyotas are on the road in the U.S., to say nothing about how the American’s depend on the company for jobs — including in states Trump needs in the 2020 election.
View the complete May 18 article by Tom Boggioni of Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.
