DNC Chair and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez released the following statement after 1.4 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment last week:

“Lies have consequences. Donald Trump lied about this pandemic, and now nearly 200,000 people have died, our economy is in recession, and just last week, another 1.4 million Americans filed for unemployment claims. This is the 26th consecutive week where more people have filed for unemployment benefits than during the single worst week of the Great Recession. Nearly 30 million are receiving some form of unemployment insurance. And it gets worse: an estimated 12 million Americans have already lost their employer-based health insurance. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is focused on taking health care away from millions more. Enough is enough. Donald Trump’s lies have cost lives. At the very least, it should cost him his job. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will put the health and safety of the American people first. They will act decisively to end this pandemic and get Americans back to work. They will show the leadership and courage that have been lacking in the Trump White House since day one. And they will repair the soul of our nation.”

1.4 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week. For 26 consecutive weeks, more people have filed for benefits than during the single worst week of the Great Recession.

Washington Post’s Heather Long: “1.4 million people filed *new* unemployment claims last week (UI + PUA).”

Associated Press: “Until the pandemic upended the operations of American companies, from factories to family diners, weekly jobless aid applications had never exceeded 700,000 in the U.S. They’ve topped 700,000 for 26 consecutive weeks.”

Nearly 30 million Americans are receiving some form of unemployment relief – nearly 20 times where we were a year ago.

Washington Post’s Heather Long: “**There are nearly 30 million Americans receiving some form of unemployment aid**”

Americans have filed over 60 million initial unemployment claims since the pandemic began, far surpassing the total during the entire Great Recession.

Fox Business: “The latest jobless claims figures from the Labor Department, which cover the week ending Sept. 12, show that 860,000 workers sought aid last week, pushing the total number since the shutdown began to nearly 61 million.”

Job growth continued to slow significantly in August.

New York Times’s Ben Casselman: “The headline number was boosted by temporary hiring for the 2020 census. Private-sector job growth slowed to 1 million from 1.5 million in July.”

Axios: “The labor market is rebounding, but the pace of hiring has dropped off. The slowdown could be a sign of what’s to come: a long, sluggish job market recovery… President Trump has praised job gains in recent months, even though they have consistently slowed from June’s surprise 4.8 million jump.”

BLS: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, following increases of larger magnitude in the prior 3 months.”

Wall Street Journal: “The number of available jobs in the U.S. leveled off late this summer, the latest sign momentum in the labor market is easing six months after the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. The increase in the number of job postings, a real-time measure of labor-market activity, has slowed dramatically since late July, and last week stood about 20% below 2019 levels, according to data the job-search site Indeed.com shared with The Wall Street Journal.”

Fewer than half of jobs lost during the pandemic have come back, with 11.5 million fewer jobs than in February.

BLS: “Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 1.4 million in August, following increases of larger  magnitude in the prior 3 months. In August, nonfarm employment was below its February level by 11.5 million, or 7.6 percent.”

Washington Post’s Heather Long: “Official unemployment rate = 8.4%  That’s the lowest unemployment rate since March but one of worst in modern history. **About 48% of the 22 million jobs lost during the pandemic have returned**”

Permanent job losses rose by 534,000 in August to 2.1 million since February.

BLS: “In August, the number of permanent job losers increased by 534,000 to 3.4 million; this measure has risen by 2.1 million since February.”

Hispanic and Asian unemployment remains over 10 percent, and the Black unemployment rate remains nearly twice that of white Americans.

Washington Post’s Heather Long: “This continues to be a highly uneven recovery.  Black, Hispanic and younger workers remain over 10% unemployed Men: 8% Women: 8.4% Teens: 16.1% White: 7.3% Hispanic: 10.5% Asian: 10.7% Black: 13%”

There continue to be mass layoffs costing tens of thousands of jobs.

CBS News: “President Donald Trump has hailed the economy in speeches and on social media, proclaiming in August that ‘jobs are flowing.’ But even as some employers are rehiring workers, others are shedding thousands of jobs, with major companies announcing 50,000 job cuts in the last two weeks alone.”

MSN: “The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Thursday reported that announced job losses last month represented the highest August total since 2002. For the year to date, more than 1.96 million job cuts have been announced, more than triple the 592,556 jobs lost in all of 2019.”

Associated Press: “COVID-19 danger continues to drive joblessness in US”

Small businesses remain in peril with millions of small firms expecting to have to close in the next six months.

Bloomberg: “About one in 20 small firms say they expect to permanently shut down in the next six months, according to the latest Small Business Pulse Survey by the Census Bureau.”

CNBC: “Yelp also takes into account the businesses whose closures have become permanent. That number has steadily increased throughout the past six months, now reaching 97,966, representing 60% of closed businesses that won’t be reopening.”