Weekly jobless claims stayed above 1 million for the 13th consecutive week as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hammer the U.S. economy.
First-time claims totaled 1.5 million last week, higher than the 1.3 million that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting. The government report’s total was 58,000 lower than the previous week’s 1.566 million, which was revised up by 24,000.
The elevated claims number persists even as all states have reopened to varying degrees and nonfarm payrolls grew by 2.5 million in May. Before the coronavirus, the record for a single week was 695,000 in September 1982.
“The 58K drop in claims this week is very disappointing, given that the level still remains so high; the worst single week after the crash of 2008 saw claims at 665K,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “It’s not clear why claims are still so high; is it the initial shock still working its way up through businesses away from the consumer-facing jobs lost in the first wave, or is it businesses which thought they could survive now throwing in the towel, or both? Either way, these are disappointing numbers and serve to emphasize that a full recovery is going to take a long time.”
Today’s Inspiration
A Deeper Level of Prayer
Asking God for what we need and want in the natural realm is definitely not wrong, but we shouldn’t have our main focus on those things. God’s Word says that He knows what we need before we ask Him (see Matthew 6:8), so all we need to do is let Him know that we’re trusting Him to take care of everything that concerns us.
After we ask God to meet our daily physical needs, we can focus the majority of our prayer time on talking to Him about our spiritual needs; things like spiritual maturity, developing and displaying the fruit of His Spirit, obedience, and walking in love, to name a few. We also have the privilege of praying for other people and being part of their victories. God is inviting us to a deeper walk with Him, and the closer we get to Him, the more our desires will become like His.
Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for hearing me every time I pray. Even though I have daily needs that I bring to You, help me grow into a deeper level of prayer where I can begin to hear and pray what’s on Your heart. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
