860,000 Americans filed jobless claims last week — a bit higher than expected, but lower than the previous week’s report.
Meanwhile, continuing claims came in lower than projected at 12.6 million — down from 13.5 million.
The slow decline in unemployment is concerning some economists, especially after disappointing retail sales in August. And Congress still has yet to agree on another round of stimulus, prompting a call to action from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“My sense is, more fiscal support is likely to be needed,” Powell said on Wednesday.
Powell also stressed the importance of an effective vaccine to bring our economy back to life. President Trump says we could have one sooner rather than later.
"We are ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced. It could be announced in October, it could be announced a little after that,” President Trump said Wednesday.
Though that’s a different timeline than CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield has, predicting a vaccine by the third quarter of next year.
