unemployment rate

Hiring picked up steam in February as a winter wave of coronavirus infections eased and consumers spent more freely. U.S. employers added 379,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate dipped to 6.2%.

U.S. employers added just 245,000 jobs last month as the runaway pandemic continued to weigh on hiring. The unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 6.9% in October.

Many unemployed Americans have been tapping into their savings to pay bills. But those savings are going fast, and hopes for a new round of pandemic relief before the election are fading.

The coronavirus triggered the sharpest economic contraction in modern history in the second quarter as the pandemic hammered the economy, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

After days of delays, congressional Republicans unveiled their $1 trillion proposal for a fifth wave of pandemic relief. Democrats are not on board — signaling tough negotiations ahead.

The Fed leaves interest rates near zero as expected, and promises to use all of its tools to support the economy. Officials project unemployment above 9% at the end of this year.

The committee tasked with marking U.S. business cycles says the economy peaked in February and has since been in a recession triggered by the pandemic. But it says the recession could be short-lived.

Frustration with long delays in getting jobless benefits is boiling over into a lawsuit against the Washington State Employment Security Department. Attorneys representing two laid off workers and the nonprofit Unemployment Law Project filed the case directly with the state Supreme Court on Friday.

More than 1 in 4 U.S. workers have lost their jobs since coronavirus shutdowns began. Last week, an additional 2.1 million people filed for unemployment benefits.

Impostors have used the stolen information of tens of thousands of people in Washington to fraudulently receive hundreds of millions of dollars in unemployment benefits, the head of the state’s Employment Security Department said Thursday.