U.S. unemployment rate drops to 10.2 percent
Illinois extends extra 20 weeks of benefits, citing ‘high unemployment’
The reopening of restaurants is helping to lower the unemployment rate, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the largest jobs gains in leisure and hospitality. (Shutterstock)
By Ted Cox
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 10.2 percent in July, but that remained above levels last seen in the Great Recession 10 years ago, prompting Illinois to extend an extra 20 weeks of benefits for the jobless.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that the economy added 1.8 million jobs last month. But that was down from 4.8 million jobs added in June, suggesting something less than the so-called V-shaped rebound many had hoped for as the nation attempts to recover from the economic slowdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the coronavirus sees a resurgence across much of the country.
The bureau set the unemployment rate at 10.2 percent in July, down from 11.1 percent in June, 13.3 percent in May, and 14.7 percent in April. Even so, that was up from a record low of 3.5 percent last registered in February before the pandemic took hold across the nation.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security took action Thursday to extend jobless benefits an extra 20 weeks beyond the usual 26 weeks and the 13 weeks added in a federal coronavirus relief package. IDES cited a provision in state law allowing the extended benefits in times of “high unemployment.”
The bureau’s monthly report credited “the continued resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it” for the lowered unemployment rate, adding that July saw job gains in “leisure and hospitality, government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services, and health care.”
The bureau reported that the unemployment rate dropped for adult men (9.4 percent), adult women (10.5 percent), teenagers (19.3 percent), Whites (9.2 percent), Asian Americans (12.0 percent), and Hispanics (12.9 percent), but the jobless rate for African Americans showed little change over the month, at 14.6 percent. The overall labor-force participation rate was likewise stagnant at 61.4 percent.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that job losses persisted, with an additional 1.2 million idled workers filing for unemployment. That was the lowest one-week figure since the pandemic took hold in March, but still almost double the previous record of 695,000 filings set during the 1982 recession.