Category: Breaking News

U.S. employers added 559,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate fell to 5.8%, in a pickup of the labor market’s recovery from the pandemic amid signs that businesses struggled to fill job openings. Last month’s gain represented an improvement from April, when the unemployment rate was 6.1% and the economy added a revised 278,000 jobs, a gain much smaller than economists had forecast. Economists had expected 671,000 jobs added and a 5.9% unemployment rate in May. Job gains in May were led by leisure and hospitality, which added 292,000 jobs, education, and healthcare, the Labor Department said. The faster pace of hiring came as several factors are propelling a burst of economic activity. More Americans have become vaccinated against the coronavirus, and state and local governments have eased restrictions on businesses as Covid-19 cases have declined and as the federal government has relaxed its pandemic guidance. Those factors, along with federal pandemic aid, have prompted a pickup in spending, particularly at services businesses, which in turn is stoking labor demand. Employment in May was still down by about 7.6 million jobs compared with pre-pandemic levels, and 9.3 million people were unemployed and potentially available to work. The unemployment rate fell because more Americans who were searching for work found jobs, but the number of people in the labor force held nearly steady, suggesting that ample open jobs and some improvement in wages didn’t draw more workers off the sidelines in May. The labor force participation rate, the share of adults working or looking for work, edged slightly lower in May to 61.6%, down from 63.3% in February 2020. Average hourly pay for private-sector employees increased by 15 cents to $30.33 in May. Hourly wage rose 2% from a year earlier.

Machiavelli Was Right

We’ve been to Hell and now we’re back and the back part is what interests me now.

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) – The United States is making progress towards the Fed’s maximum employment and 2% inflation goals, but the depth of the remaining problem still requires the central bank not jump the gun in starting to tighten monetary policy, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday. “While we are far from our goals today, we are seeing welcome progress, and I expect to see further progress,” Brainard said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Economic Club of New York. But “jobs are down by between 8 and 10 million compared with the level we would have seen in the absence of the pandemic. And it will be important to see sustained progress on inflation,” not just a temporary jump. Some of the factors fueling current strong growth, including fiscal spending and the rush by households to take advantage of a broader economic reopening, are likely to fade over time, Brainard noted, another reason the Fed should not pull back too soon. “Remaining steady in our outcomes-based approach during the transitory reopening surge will help ensure the economic momentum that will be needed,” to make sure inflation hits and stays at the Fed’s target, and people have as much time as possible to restart their old jobs or find new ones, she said. The Fed is approaching a critical few months as it tries to read an economy progressing through the unparalleled moment of restarting after a pandemic. What are difficult judgments in normal times — assessing the path of inflation or assessing what employment metrics are most meaningful — have become even more complex in an environment where consumption and work patterns have been upended, and may have been changed permanently by the historic health crisis. How those questions are resolved will determine when the Fed begins to reduce its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases, and then eventually raises interest rates from the current near zero level. The Fed appears to be edging towards the start of that discussion. A key bit of information will come on Friday when new employment data will show whether hiring picked up in May after a weaker-than-expected April. Another poor outcome won’t necessarily dim faith in the recovery, only emphasize how hard it is to restart a $20 trillion economy. Brainard has been among the stronger voices arguing to wait on any policy change to be sure the recovery won’t slip, but herself made a revision in her language on Tuesday. While saying policy should remain steady, she did not repeat her call for the Fed to be “patient” before making any changes, a word often used to push policy debates far down the road. The fact that prices are currently being driven higher by things like unexpected computer chip shortages and a rush by consumers to buy used cars is all the more reason to wait — as is the uncertainty over why people seem hesitant to take jobs. Some of that data “noise” will ease by the fall, Brainard said. While she said she would be “attentive” to signs of higher inflation, she cautioned also against “preemptive tightening” that could deprive people of jobs.

On May 17, the New York Times reported that the coronavirus crisis was so severe in India, with about 23 million infections confirmed, that the country was accounting for more than half of the world’s daily COVID-19 cases. The same day, The Gateway Pundit posted a story suggesting that two drugs — both of which have drawn warnings from U.S. and global public health officials not to be used for COVID-19 — were having dramatic effects in India. The headline, widely shared on Facebook, read: “Elites Worried: COVID Cases in India Plummet After Government Promotes Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine Use.” Daily COVID-19 cases in India decreased in the days before May 17 — but only after a nearly vertical rise that started in April and peaked May 8. The Indian government has recommended limited use of the two drugs for COVID-19, but there is no evidence that their use led to the drop in cases. Neither drug is approved in the U.S. for COVID-19. And both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization recommend against using them to prevent or treat COVID-19 infection. The Gateway Pundit article links to another article that links to revised guidelines issued April 28 by India’s Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The guidelines, for “home isolation of mild/asymptomatic COVID-19 cases,” recommends considering ivermectin as treatment for those patients, and says people in close contact with those patients should take hydroxychloroquine as a prevention “as per protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer.” Confirmed new COVID-19 cases in India declined in the days before the article was posted, based on a seven-day rolling average — but only after reaching a peak following a sharp increase that started in April. Many experts caution that the Indian government’s official tallies of confirmed cases likely vastly underestimate the actual infection figures because testing remains limited and the volume of cases has crippled the health care system in some areas. So the actual extent of the decline is not clear. Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are being widely used in India for COVID-19, according to news reports. But there is no evidence they led to the recent decline in confirmed cases, given the lack of clear scientific evidence that they are effective at all in prevention or treatment. The government’s new guidelines don’t give a rationale for the recommendations. They were issued several days after a research paper was published that said “results from numerous controlled prophylaxis trials,” including some done in India, “report significantly reduced risks of contracting COVID-19 with the regular use of ivermectin.” Doctors in India admitted to have prescribed the drug under compulsion, peer pressure or on patient’s demand, according to one news report . The health minister in Goa was quoted as saying ivermectin does not prevent a COVID-19 infection, but helps in reducing the severity of the disease. Hydroxychloroquine has been in use much longer. In June 2020, a task force of India’s health ministry recommended that frontline health care workers take it to prevent COVID-19 infection. According to the journal Nature, the task force cited three new studies conducted by government agencies, only one of which had been published, that the task force said showed it can prevent infection.

The Gateway Pundit claimed: “COVID cases in India plummet after government promotes ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine use.”

COVID-19 cases in India dropped in mid-May only after a nearly vertical spike in cases over the previous several weeks. The Indian government has given limited recommendations for using the two drugs in connection with mild COVID-19 cases.

The U.S. has reported the lowest number of Covid-19 cases in more than a year, as the nation’s airports over Memorial Day weekend experienced the largest number of travelers since the pandemic began. The 11,976 new cases reported on May 29 were the lowest since March 23, 2020, when 11,238 new cases were reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day average of 21,007 is the lowest since March 31 of last year, when it was 19,363. Friday also saw the TSA report the highest number of travelers since the pandemic began, with more than 1.9 million people taking to the skies for the long weekend. At the same point last year, the TSA counted just 327,000 passengers at its checkpoints. The World Health Organization officially declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The U.S. reported 1,147 Covid cases that day. The pandemic would go on to infect more than 33 million people in the U.S. and kill nearly 600,000 people. Within a week of the WHO declaration, daily TSA travel numbers dropped from 1.7 million to 620,000. By March 25, the number was at 203,000. Since March 11, 2021, the daily number of fliers has remained above 1 million. More than 60% of U.S. adults have at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, while 40.5% of adults are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. President Biden announced earlier this month that his administration is aiming to increase the number of adults with at least one dose to 70% by July 4. He also said he wants 160 million American adults fully vaccinated by the same date. “If we succeed in this effort,” Biden said during his announcement, “then Americans will have taken a serious step toward a return to normal.” The CDC recently said fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most settings, though masks are still required on airplanes, buses, trains and public transportation. Cities across the country are lifting restrictions on indoor dining and gatherings as cases fall and vaccinations increase. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has repeatedly said that he wants to see daily case numbers drop below 10,000 before a broad relaxation of safety measures takes place.

The Vaccines Minister has insisted that the World Health Organization must be able to fully investigate the origins of the pandemic, following reports that British agents believe it is “feasible” that the coronavirus emerged after a laboratory leak. Speaking to Sky News, Nadhim Zahawi said it’s vital that the WHO is “allowed to conduct its investigation unencumbered” as it seeks to better understand how the initial outbreak began, adding that “we should leave no stone unturned”.There has been renewed interest in how the pandemic began this week, after President Joe Biden asked US intelligence agencies to re-investigate the origins and report back in 90 days. Facebook also said it will no longer ban posts claiming Covid-19 was man made. According to a Sunday Times report, Western intelligence – including Britain – at first considered there was only a “remote” chance that it had leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where research is conducted into bat-derived coronaviruses. But there has since been a reassessment, and a lab escape is thought “feasible”, sources revealed. Yet, amid mounting tensions between China and the West, the WHO’s director of emergencies, Dr Mike Ryan, warned on Friday that efforts to better understand how the virus emerged are “being poisoned by politics”. “We would like for everyone out there to separate, if they can, the politics of this issue from the science,” he told a press conference.

The data showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment – from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays * Rambam Health Care Campus doctor: ‘Results extremely impressive’