Five key developments this week as coronavirus spreads in the US - CNN
Five key developments this week as coronavirus spreads in the US - CNN |
- Five key developments this week as coronavirus spreads in the US - CNN
- U.S. weekly jobless claims fall; prior week revised sharply higher - Kitco NEWS
- Immigrants who use public benefits are essential to US economy - Quartz
- Pentagon Now Says 50 U.S. Troops Sustained Brain Injuries in Iran Strike - The New York Times
| Five key developments this week as coronavirus spreads in the US - CNN Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:47 AM PST [unable to retrieve full-text content]
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| U.S. weekly jobless claims fall; prior week revised sharply higher - Kitco NEWS Posted: 30 Jan 2020 12:43 PM PST  WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to continued labor market strength, though applications for the prior week were much higher than initially estimated. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000 for the week ended Jan. 25, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims data for the prior week was revised to show 12,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims increasing to 215,000 in the latest week. The Labor Department said only claims for Alabama were estimated last week. The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 1,750 to 214,500 last week. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept interest rates unchanged, noting that the "labor market remains strong" and "economic activity has been rising at a moderate rate." Labor market strength is helping to keep the longest economic expansion, now in its 11th year, on track, despite a prolonged slump in business investment. The economy created 145,000 jobs last month after adding a massive 256,000 positions in November. The economy needs to create roughly 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working age population. Thursday's claims report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid declined 44,000 to 1.70 million for the week ended Jan. 18. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims decreased 6,250 to 1.76 million. The continuing claims data covered the week during which the government surveyed households for January's unemployment rate. The four-week average of claims dropped 51,000 between the December and January survey weeks, suggesting some improvement in the unemployment rate. The jobless rate is near a 50-year low of 3.5% and a measure of labor market slack hit an all-time low of 6.7% in December. Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci  |
| Immigrants who use public benefits are essential to US economy - Quartz Posted: 30 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST  The US government has the legal right to deny residency to people who might require, or have required in the past, public financial assistance, the US Supreme Court ruled this week. The ruling upheld a new policy from the current administration that expands the definition of a "public charge" when it comes to immigration. The new policy says, among other things, that legal immigrants who have used food stamps or been hospitalized for long-term care through Medicaid can now be denied a green card. This is even if they applied for the benefit before the policy was announced. US president Donald Trump's administration didn't introduce the concept of a "public charge," it just further defined it. Prior to the new policy, immigration authorities might label someone a possible public charge if they were likely to receive, or had received, cash handouts. The new definition is much broader. It's another effort to limit immigration options for lower-income people. But the assumption that those who require government assistance are, or will be, a burden to the United States is misinformed, and potentially damaging to the very economy the policy seeks to protect. The positive economic impact of immigrants of lower incomes is well documented. Immigrant participation in the workforce is higher than native participation and a 2015 report by the National Academy of Science (NAS) noted that the population of young, low-educated citizens is shrinking, making certain sectors of the economy essentially dependent on immigrants, who are often more flexible to move around the country to for potential jobs. According to a 2018 survey, immigrants made up 36% of all employees in fishery and building maintenance, and accounted for more than 24% of the workforce in sectors like construction and food processing. All this is just as true—if not more so—of immigrants who receive public assistance. A misconception about food programs or Medicaid, for instance, is that they are for unemployed people. In truth, they are often supplementing the resources of people employed in low-income jobs—both among immigrant and native communities. Research from the Center on Budget and Policy Priority (CBPP) found that 93% of immigrants receiving any form of government support between 1999 and 2015 were either employed or married to someone who was employed most of the time. In many cases, the CBPP notes, reliance on government assistance was temporary. Further, NAS research found that the second generation of immigrants born from low-income parents have high upward mobility, and tend to reach higher education levels than children of parents born in the United States. There is perhaps no stronger evidence of the benefit of admitting low-income immigrants to the United States, however, than the history of the country itself. It is estimated that about 100 million Americans are descendants of the 17 million immigrants who came to the United States by way of Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Many more had come through different avenues. A majority of these immigrants, including the ancestors of current deputy director of homeland security Ken Cuccinelli, and White House advisor Jared Kushner, would not have passed the new public charge limitations. Admitting those immigrants to the United States wasn't just beneficial to their own lives and futures, it was a boon to American development. Without poor Chinese immigrants, for example, the United States wouldn't have the transcontinental railroad. And immigrants who fled poverty were instrumental to building the country's other major infrastructure, like bridges and skyscrapers. The impact immigrants have on the economy isn't just measured in the present or near future—but in the generations to come. Research has shown that the economic benefit of accepting more immigrants can last for decades after their arrival. In the United States, the counties that took in more immigrants between 1860 and 1920 now have higher wages. A 5% increase in immigrants, in fact, corresponded to a 20% increase in wages. To be sure, those immigrants were typically much poorer than those who would be denied entry today.  |
| Pentagon Now Says 50 U.S. Troops Sustained Brain Injuries in Iran Strike - The New York Times Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:48 PM PST  The Pentagon on Tuesday said that 50 American service members sustained brain injuries from Iranian airstrikes on Al Asad Air Base in Iraq this month, 16 more than it had acknowledged last week. Of the 50 troops affected, 31 were treated in Iraq and returned to duty, "including 15 of the additional service members," Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. "As stated previously, this is a snap shot in time and numbers can change," Colonel Campbell said. "We will continue to provide updates as they become available." The Defense Department said on Friday that 34 American service members had traumatic brain injuries as a result of the Jan. 8 attack. In the hours after the strike, President Trump said that no Americans had been hurt. The number of American troops taken to Germany for further evaluation and treatment also increased, to 18 from 17, according to the Pentagon's statement Tuesday. One service member who was taken to Kuwait has since returned to duty, Colonel Campbell said. Brain injuries are not always immediately apparent, officials have said, noting that delays in reporting the injuries can also be caused by the time it takes for information to work its way to leaders in Washington. The rising number of injuries undercuts Mr. Trump's initial statements hours after the strike, in which he said that no Americans were hurt. "I'm pleased to inform you the American people should be extremely grateful and happy," the president said in a speech on Jan. 9. "No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime." After the Pentagon said that American troops were showing signs of concussions after the Iranian missile strikes, Mr. Trump on Jan. 22 disregarded the symptoms as "not very serious," drawing criticism from veterans' groups. "I heard they had headaches," Mr. Trump said at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland. "No, I don't consider them very serious injuries, relative to other injuries that I've seen." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. At least a dozen missiles were fired during the attack, which was a retaliation for the killing of a top Iranian general, Qassim Suleimani, by an American drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3. Helene Cooper contributed reporting.  |
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