New U.S. unemployment compensation claims jumped again last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the recovery from the economic damage caused by the coronavirus remains tenuous.The government said 719,000 workers filed for benefits last week, up 61,000 from the revised figure of the previous week. The week-ago figure of 658,000 was the smallest total of new jobless benefit claims in the United States since the coronavirus first swept into the country a year ago.But other than the week-old total, the number of jobless benefit claims has remained above 700,000 a week, and above 800,000 and 900,000 in some weeks in early 2021. Until the virus swept through the U.S., the highest pre-pandemic weekly claims total, in records dating back to the 1960s, was 695,000, after reaching a peak of 6.9 million claims a year ago.  By comparison, in 2019, before the pandemic, unemployment compensation claims averaged 218,000 a week.US Unemployment Benefit Claims Dropped Sharply Last WeekUnemployment compensation claims dropped sharply last week to their lowest level in a year, Labor Department reportsEmployers in many states are still facing directives to curtail their operations, while some state governors are revoking orders for people to wear face masks and allowing businesses to fully reopen or setting dates in the coming weeks when they say businesses can ramp up.The employment picture in the U.S. also could improve as money from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package filters through the economy. The measure could help boost hiring and consumer spending, as millions of Americans, all but the highest wage earners, are now receiving $1,400 stimulus checks from the government.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress recently, “With the passage of the rescue plan, I am confident that people will reach the other side of this pandemic with the foundations of their lives intact. And I believe they will be met there by a growing economy. In fact, I think we may see a return to full employment next year.”About 2.5 million Americans are now being vaccinated against the virus each day, with Biden promising that 90% of all adults who want a vaccination will be eligible to get one by April 19, less than three weeks from now.  More than 54 million Americans are fully inoculated with one of the three available vaccines, about 21% of the U.S. adult population. As that number grows, more people are regaining a sense of normalcy in their lives.Even so, the number of new cases is on the rise again in the U.S., with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying this week she has a feeling of “impending doom.””We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope,” Walensky said. “But right now, I’m scared.”Employers in many states are still confronted with orders from state and municipal officials to restrict business hours or limit the number of customers they can serve at any one time to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Those arriving for dinner in a restaurant, sometimes for the first time in a year, still find many establishments cordoning off every other table to keep customers safely distanced from each other.U.S. employers added 379,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate edged down to 6.2%. The country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, predicts it could drop further to 4.5% later this year.  The government is releasing its March employment report on Friday, with economists predicting that the U.S. economy added 675,000 jobs last month and that the jobless rate edged down to 6%.The Fed is expecting the economy to grow by 6.5% this year compared to its previous projection of 4.2%, with the growth rate slowing to 3.9% in 2022 and 3.5% in 2023.Despite the rosier picture, Fed chair Jerome Powell has cautioned that the economy will not instantly return to pre-pandemic levels.“It’s just a lot of people who need to get back to work, and it’s not going to happen overnight,” Powell told Congress recently. “The faster, the better.”Under the $1.9 trillion relief deal, the federal government is continuing to make $300-a-week extra payments to the jobless into early September, on top of less generous state benefits, a provision that will help millions of unemployed until their old jobs are restored, or they find new work.In the U.S., only slightly more than half of the 22 million jobs lost in the pandemic have been recovered.  U.S. employers have called back millions of workers who were laid off during business shutdowns in 2020. But some hard-hit businesses have been slow to ramp up operations again or have closed permanently, leaving workers idled or searching for new employment.The coronavirus relief measure, however, almost certainly will give a new boost to the economy, easing the path for many employers to keep workers on their payrolls as coronavirus restrictions are gradually eased.The U.S. has now recorded 552,000 coronavirus deaths and more than 30 million infections, both figures higher than that being reported in any other country, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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A court in the U.S. state of Minnesota proceeds Thursday with the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer charged in the death of George Floyd last year that sparked widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism last year.Jurors on Wednesday saw about 20 minutes of police body camera video that spanned the time from when police approached Floyd’s vehicle and when he was loaded into an ambulance.One video played Wednesday showed Chauvin saying Floyd was “a sizable guy” and “probably on something.”Chauvin kneeled on the back of Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as Floyd cried repeatedly that he could not breathe.Chauvin, who is white, was fired by the city’s police department the day after Floyd, an African American, died in custody.Jurors also heard testimony from several witnesses, including the convenience store cashier who sold cigarettes to Floyd moments before his deadly encounter with Chauvin.Christopher Martin testified that he knowingly accepted a fake $20 bill from Floyd for the cigarettes even though the money would be subtracted from his paycheck in accordance with store policy.The 19-year-old said after second-guessing his decision, he informed the store manager who told him to go outside and ask Floyd to return to the store.“If I would’ve just not taken the bill, this could’ve been avoided,” Martin said.Echoing sentiments from other onlookers, Martin said he felt “disbelief and guilt,” as he stood on the curb watching Floyd’s arrest.Martin was among several people who have testified about their frustration and anger as they witnessed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck outside a convenience store last May.The officer is facing charges of murder and manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty.Chauvin’s defense lawyers have argued he was following his training and that other factors such as heart disease and drug use caused Floyd to die.The city of Minneapolis recently agreed to pay Floyd’s relatives $27 million in damages to settle their claims of abuse in the case.
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Georgia overhauled a Civil War-era law Wednesday that allowed residents to arrest anyone they suspected of committing a crime — a “citizen’s arrest” law invoked by the defense of the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery last year. The Arbery case garnered international outrage with civil rights activists saying it marked yet another example of a targeted attack on a Black man. The Georgia General Assembly approved the bill across party lines by wide margins in both the House and Senate, and now it is headed to Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has said he will sign it. “Ahmaud was the victim of vigilante-style violence that has no place in Georgia,” Kemp told the media. Kemp said in a release the bill repealed “Civil War-era language in our laws that is ripe for abuse.”   Republican Representative Bert Reeves, the primary sponsor of the bill, said the bill was a “common sense move that should have been done a long time ago. It achieves meaningful reform to prevent vigilantism.” The citizen’s arrest law came under scrutiny after the February 2020 death of Arbery, 25, who was chased down and shot dead as he jogged through his southern Georgia neighborhood. The shooting was caught on cell-phone video that went viral.   In the 1863 law, Georgia allowed any resident to arrest someone they suspect committed a crime, a law that critics say was enacted to detain people suspected of being runaway slaves. Prosecutors initially did not charge the three white men, citing the citizen’s arrest law as the reason, as all three said they believed that Arbery was a burglar.   A former Glynn County police officer, Gregory McMichael, and his son Travis, were charged with murder and aggravated assault, but only after state authorities stepped in about two months after the shooting. A third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the McMichaels in chasing down Arbery, police say, and shot the video of the incident on his phone.   Attorneys for the McMichaels did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, said that the citizen’s arrest law was one of the foundations of the defense for all three accused and that the General Assembly’s new measure did not change what was the law last year. Gerald Griggs, the vice president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the law needed to be abolished.   “It allowed people to just go play police officer and when they don’t know what they’re doing,” Griggs said. “It was deadly in brother Ahmaud’s case.” No trial date has yet been set for the three. 
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