The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in more than half a century, another sign that the U.S. job market is rebounding rapidly from last year's coronavirus recession. Jobless claims dropped by 71,000 to 199,000, the lowest since mid-November 1969. But seasonal adjustments around the Thanksgiving holiday contributed significantly to the bigger-than-expected drop. Unadjusted, claims actually ticked up by more than 18,000 to nearly 259,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly ups and downs, also dropped — by 21,000 to just over 252,000, the lowest since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic slammed the economy. Read:Americans are spending but inflation casts pall over economy Since topping 900,000 in early January, the applications have fallen steadily toward and now fallen below their prepandemic level of around 220,000 a week. Claims for jobless aid are a proxy for layoffs. Overall, 2 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment checks the week that ended Nov. 13, down slightly from the week before. “Overall, expect continued volatility in the headline figures, but the trend remains very slowly lower," Contingent Macro Advisors wrote in a research note. Until Sept. 6, the federal government had supplemented state unemployment insurance programs by paying an extra payment of $300 a week and extending benefits to gig workers and to those who were out of work for six months or more. Including the federal programs, the number of Americans receiving some form of jobless aid peaked at more than 33 million in June 2020. Read:US reopens to international travel, allows happy reunions The job market has staged a remarkable comeback since the spring of 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to close or cut hours and kept many Americans at home as a health precaution. In March and April last year, employers slashed more than 22 million jobs. But government relief checks, super-low interest rates and the rollout of vaccines combined to give consumers the confidence and financial wherewithal to start spending again. Employers, scrambling to meet an unexpected surge in demand, have made 18 million new hires since April 2020 and are expected to add another 575,000 this month. Still, the United States remains 4 million short of the jobs it had in February 2020. Companies now complain that they can't find workers to fill job openings, a near-record 10.4 million in September. Workers, finding themselves with bargaining clout for the first time in decades, are becoming choosier about jobs; a record 4.4 million quit in September, a sign they have confidence in their ability to find something better.

Americans are doing the main thing that drives the U.S. economy — spending — but accelerating inflation is casting a pall. A raft of economic data issued Wednesday showed the economy on solid footing, with Americans’ incomes rising and jobless claims falling to a level not seen since the Beatles were still together. The spike in prices for everything from gas to rent, however, will likely be the chief economic indicator Americans discuss over Thanksgiving Day dinner. The Commerce Department reported that U.S. consumer spending rebounded by 1.3% in October. That was despite inflation that over the past year has accelerated faster than it has at any point in more than three decades. The jump in consumer spending last month was double the 0.6% gain in September. Read:US reopens to international travel, allows happy reunions At the same time, consumer prices rose 5% compared with the same period last year, the fastest 12-month gain since the same stretch ending in November 1990. “Although consumer confidence has declined in the fall because of high inflation, households continue to spend,” said Gus Faucher chief economist at PNC Financial. Personal incomes, which provide the fuel for future spending increases, rose 0.5% in October after having fallen 1% in September, which reflected a drop in government support payments. Pay for Americans has been on the rise with companies desperate for workers, and government stimulus checks earlier this year further padded their bank accounts. That bodes well for a strong holiday season and major U.S. retailers say they’re ready after some companies, like Walmart and Target, went to extreme lengths to make sure that their shelves are full despite widespread shortages. Analysts said the solid increase in spending in October, the first month in the new quarter, was encouraging evidence that overall economic growth, which slowed to a modest annual rate of 2.1% in the July-September quarter, will post a sizable rebound in the current quarter. That is expected as long as the recent rise in COVID cases and concerns about inflation don't dampen holiday shopping. “After experiencing one of the most severe economic shocks of the past century in 2020, the U.S. economy has displayed one of the most rapid recoveries in modern history in 2021,” Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist for Oxford Economics, wrote in a note to clients. Daco predicts GDP in the current October-December period would rebound to a growth rate of 5.6%. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits, meanwhile, dropped last week by 71,000 to 199,000, the lowest since mid-November 1969. But seasonal adjustments around the Thanksgiving holiday contributed significantly to the bigger-than-expected drop. Unadjusted, claims actually ticked up by more than 18,000 to nearly 259,000. In a cautionary note Wednesday the University of Michigan reported that its consumer sentiment index fell 4.3 percentage points to a reading of 67.4 this month, its lowest level since November 2011, weighed down by inflation concerns. And there are regions in the U.S. experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases that could get worse as families travel the country for the Thanksgiving holiday. President Joe Biden acted Tuesday to counter spiking gasoline prices by ordering a release from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve, but economists expect that move to have only a minimal effect on the surge in gas prices. Read:Mar-a-Lago-trespasser deported to China 2 years later The Fed seeks to conduct its interest-rate policies to achieve annual gains in its preferred price index of around 2%. However, over the past two decades, inflation has perennially failed to reach the Fed's 2% inflation target. Fed officials at their November meeting announced the start of a reduction in its $120 billion per month in bond purchases which the central bank had been making to put downward pressure on long-term interest rates in order to spur the economy. Minutes from that meeting showed Fed officials increasingly concerned that the unwanted price pressures could last for a longer time. Officials indicated that the Fed should be prepared to move to reduce its bond purchases more quickly — or even start raising the Fed’s benchmark interest rate sooner — to make sure inflation does not get out of hand. The reduction in bond purchases marked the Fed's first maneuver to pull back on the massive support it has been providing to the economy. Economists expect that will be followed in the second half of 2022 by an increase to the Fed's benchmark interest rate, which influences millions of consumer and business loans. That rate has been at a record low of 0% to 0.25% since the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020.

More women lost jobs, had a harder time finding another job, and had a much slower income recovery amid Covid-19 in Bangladesh. A third of the young women employed before the pandemic in the country were out of jobs in January 2021. Read: Create more overseas jobs for female workers: Speakers The rate is almost three times higher in women (29%) than that of young men (11%). The female youths who again found a job later, income recovery has dropped only 10% for male youths while it is 21% for female youths in January 2021. The data mentioned above was presented by Dr Imran Matin, executive director of BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), in a webinar organised on Sunday. Respondents in the study pointed out that private tutoring, handicrafts, factory jobs, tailoring and light engineering are among the areas in which more young women used to find employment conventionally, but again these are among the hardest hit economic areas in the pandemic. Read: Ensure more jobs for women to achieve desired prosperity The respondents also think that recovery of these particular areas will be tough and take time even when the pandemic is over, making it difficult for female youths to come back to paid employment. The BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and BRAC’s skills development programme (SDP) hosted the webinar titled ‘Building a resilient ecosystem for women in the skills sector: challenges and prospects’ to celebrate World Youth Skills Day (July 15). Highlighting the survey findings, Dr Matin said so many working women remaining out of paid work for such a long period may cause many to permanently leave the job market, which may further reduce the already low rate of women’s labour market participation. Covid shock may threaten to undo much of the progress made around women’s empowerment unless corrective measures are taken, he said. Speaking at the webinar, speakers emphasised on greater awareness on the importance of technical and vocational education, and training and development of other skills relevant to both local and global economies. BIGD in collaboration with SDP has conducted a number of studies identifying the sustained beneficial impact of skills training on women’s economic independence. Speaking on the possible interventions, a panel of development professionals shared their insights, highlighted the importance of adopting proper implementation strategies, and stressed that the evidence-based findings from different relevant studies need to be taken into view in building a resilient ecosystem for women in the area of skills development. Joydeep Sinha Roy, head of operations of BRAC SDP, presented findings from SDP’s implementation experiences over the years at the event. The presentation pointed out that culture and traditional gender roles, gender stereotyping, lack of career guidance, safety concerns particularly fear of gender-based violence and sexual harassment, family responsibilities, and availability of quality apprenticeship occupations are the major barriers for adolescent girls’ and young women’s access to skills learning. To bring change in the sector, Joydeep presented SDP’s incremental approaches - enterprise development training, entrepreneurship training, employability training, classroom training and apprenticeship training. The presentation recommended more awareness about skills training both at the individual and household level, access to the labour market through skills training, raising awareness to change perception towards women, enabling a women-friendly environment in the labour market, and access to jobs and retention to improve the scenario. Following the presentation, Tasmiah Tabassum Rahman, current in-charge of BRAC Skills Development Programme moderated a discussion also attended by BRAC’s Gender, Justice and Diversity Programme director Nobonita Chowdhury, International Labour Organization’s programme officer (M&E) for Skills 21 Project Tahmid Arif, and Natore-based Neda Society’s executive director Jahanara Beauty. BRAC’s Gender, Justice and Diversity Programme director Nobonita Chowdhury emphasised bringing change in designing proper interventions. “Instead of designing interventions separately, we need to focus on making integrated interventions in line with mainstreaming women empowerment in different sectors.” ILO programme officer (M&E) for Skills 21 Project Tahmid Arif said, “Changing mindset is crucial not only for skills training of female youths, but also for their employment. Conducting training is not enough. We also need to make sure those who receive training also get an employment opportunity and the opportunity has to be sustainable.” Highlighting the harsh impact of Covid-19 on the female workforce, Neda Society ED Jahanara Beauty said, “During the pandemic many employers opted to keep male ones instead of female youths in informal sectors. As many women had to leave their job, it impacted not only their income or employment but also their surrounding situations. There was sharp decline in their savings, while violence against women increased and incidents of child marriage rose drastically.”

A 26-year-old man, who lost his job at a factory in capital Dhaka due to Covid-induced lockdown, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room early hours of Sunday with family members and police suspecting he committed suicide. Khokon Hossain returned a dejected man at his Bashbari village of Rajshahi's Puthia upazila, after he  lost his job during the ongoing lockdown.   On Sunday morning family members found Khokon's door shut and there was no response from inside to their calls. His father found him hanging as he looked through a window. Later the family members broke into his room and recovered the body. Also read: Covid patient ‘commits suicide’ in Satkhira It was learned that Khokon worked for a factory in Dhaka and returned home after losing his job during the lockdown.  After he lost his job, his wife left him over a family dispute.Khokon's father said he was frustrated for these all and might have committed suicide for the situation. The couple has a child too, he said. Also read: Chuadanga cattle trader 'commits suicide' over Covid stigma Officer-in-charge Sohorawardy Hossain said it was suspected to be a case of suicide but the body was not sent for autopsy as per wishes of the family.However, an unnatural death case was filed, he said.

Although some 2,000 people used to move to Dhaka every day from across the country seeking a better life barely six months back, many are now leaving the capital, thanks to Covid-19 pandemic.