Since the $2.2 trillion stimulus package CARES Act passed in March, Americans who lost their jobs have been able to collect an additional $600 a week in unemployment benefits on top of what their states have distributed.
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Related: The extra $600 Americans get in weekly unemployment benefits ends next month — here's what lawmakers are proposing to replace it
The boost in unemployment benefits "was a really important thing to do when we were closing the economy back in March," Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said Wednesday on CNBC. "I don't think that the $600 benefit is the answer going forward," he added.
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What will power the post-pandemic global economic recovery? | | UN News
As governments try to kick-start their economies, the UN is calling for recovery plans to be built around low-carbon technologies, to avoid a return to fossil fuel-based business as usual.
Some of the countries and regions at the forefront of this wholescale shift to renewables are islands, where the need to avoid the significant cost of importing fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, provides added motivation.
Mauritius, for example, is planning to generate over a third of its electricity from renewable sources within the next five years. Projects supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), will be an important part of this transition, bringing an additional 25 Mega Watts of solar power to Mauritius, including a mini-power grid in Agalega, one of the outer islands.
Fragile economic recovery faces first big test with June jobs report in the week ahead
The second half of 2020 is nearly here, and now it's up to the economy to prove that the stock market was right about a sharp comeback in growth.
The first big test will be the June jobs report, out on Thursday instead of its usual Friday release due to the July 4 holiday. According to Refinitiv, economists expect 3 million jobs were created, after May's surprise gain of 2.5 million payrolls beat forecasts by a whopping 10 million jobs.
"If it's stronger, it will suggest that the improvement is quicker, and that's kind of what we saw in May with better retail sales, confidence was coming back a little and auto sales were better," said Kevin Cummins, chief U.S. economist at NatWest Markets.
Home Economics: Tough time for would-be homeowners - BNN Bloomberg
In its latest housing market forecast , the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said it doesn't expect the country's housing market to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2022. CMHC's Deputy Chief Economist Patrick Perrier noted that there's been "unprecedented impacts" on Canada's major cities and an expected decline in immigration will lower the demand for rental units.
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More than half of Canadians support the idea of shortening the standard work week, according to the latest survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute. Fifty-three per cent of the 1,510 respondents said they think it's a good idea to make a new 30-hour week week — also known as a four-day work week — standard in Canada. That compares with 47 per cent in 2018.
Not to change the topic here:
White House Economist Tested Positive for Covid-19 - WSJ
A top White House economist said he had a mild case of Covid-19 earlier this month, making him the latest person in proximity to President Trump to contract the illness.
Stories of an extraordinary world - The secret economics of a VIP party | The Economist
THE NIGHTCLUB pulsed in the Miami heat. Dancers waved glow sticks with neon letters spelling out "F*** me I'm famous". The millionaire was dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, and would have been easy to miss if he hadn't been surrounded by a dozen tall, thin, beautiful women and waving a pink bottle of Cristal champagne. His next drinks order arrived in a ceremonial procession, known in the nightclub business as a bottle train.
Onlookers cheered in the glow and held up their phones to take pictures. A man standing next to me looked blasé at the unfolding scene and offered me a swig from his own champagne bottle: a 2004 Cristal rosé.
What the government should learn from this pandemic, according to 7 economists | PBS NewsHour
It's been nearly 100 days since California became the first state to implement a stay-at-home order amid the pandemic, shuttering non-essential businesses curbing economic activity for what would be months. All but seven states soon followed, closing schools, retailers and entertainment venues, and sparking one of the country's worst economic crises since the Great Depression.
Now, as states are reopening, the economy is adding back some jobs, but the effects of the pandemic and the recession it plunged the country into will likely be felt for years, said Peter Temin, an economics professor with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
McDowell: A Small But Encouraging Light of Economic Healing | Jackson County Floridan |
Social and economic history is fascinating. Here's a fact for us to consider: during the year (1918) of the global influenza outbreak about a century ago, the Dow Jones Industrial Average actually rose by 10.5%.
It's been a difficult decade for commodities, and prices are way down from even a year ago. Still, the tentative rising global demand is a breath of fresh economic air. China's manufacturing sector is buzzing again, so China is both ordering raw materials for their own production needs and shipping goods to other countries whose factories are again in production mode. Oil, copper and tin prices are rebounding, and even some agricultural prices are improved.
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