08 September 2020
Data: Indeed; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios
The number of unemployed Americans vastly outnumbers the number of open jobs in every single state.
Why it matters: Even though we've come back from the worst unemployment numbers, the pandemic's economic toll keeps turning furloughs into job losses — and pushing millions of people out of the workforce entirely.
By the numbers: In every state, job postings are way down compared with 2019 levels, according to data from Indeed's Hiring Lab that was provided to Axios.
- In several states with job-magnet cities — like New York, California, Illinois and Massachusetts — postings are down close to 30%. "This is more a big-city recession than a rural one," says Jed Kolko, Indeed's chief economist.
- Some places, like West Virginia, Mississippi and Alabama, recovered but have started to dip again.
- The outliers: The outlook in Hawaii and D.C., both of which rely on domestic and international tourism, is especially bleak, with job posts down 46% and 40%, respectively.
The big picture: With the pandemic affecting every city and every industry, job seekers have nowhere to turn.
- "Historically, the U.S. has relied on mobility to solve these problems," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "The problem with the pandemic is that it has hit every single community in the country. There's nowhere to go."
- As I wrote last week, hiring slumps have been concentrated in industries like hospitality and retail, which have been directly hit by the coronavirus crisis. But the effects are bleeding into other sectors like tech and finance as the pandemic and the recession push companies to reevaluate their hiring plans.
The bottom line: "We're gonna have a lot fewer jobs for a long time," Zandi says. "We'll get back, but it won't be next year or the year after. It'll likely be mid-decade."
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.