Congress Needs to Act Boldly to Help the Unemployed

From May through August the U.S. economy bounced back from Covid-19’s first strike, gaining millions of new jobs per month. That growth slowed in September, with the the economy adding 661,000 jobs. The unemployment rate now stands at 7.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ last jobs report before Election Day.

These figures aren’t as dire as April, when 20.8 million jobs were lost in one month and the unemployment rate spiked to 14.7%. But they’re seismic measurements nonetheless.