#help #workers #businesses #entertainment #hospitality #VirusCasedemic
US Markets will be closed Monday, 31 May in observance of Memorial Day
“Many of the world’s major economies are waking up from more than a yr of hibernation as the medical emergency chaos raged” — Paul Ebeling
The sector hit hardest by all the lockdowns was leisure and hospitality. And it is running into a new problem just as it gets the governments Greenlight to reopen: not enough workers.
What is driving the phenom is a matter of debate among economists, policymakers and politicians.
Some say ongoing health worries about returning to work in high-touch businesses, but the Key explanations include generous unemployment benefits, child care constraints, fewer international workers and competition from other sectors like construction that have held up well throughout the VirusCasedemic.
The latest US government data showed job openings in leisure and hospitality totaled a record 1.2-M in March, but employers in the sector added just 331-K workers to their payrolls in April, signaling hundreds of thousands of positions are going unfilled.
In Australia it is the same story. Overall job openings there are at their highest in more than 12 yrs and roughly 45% above pre-VirusCasedemic levels.
Australia’s early success in curbing the virus allowed authorities to open the economy, including pubs, bars and restaurants. But a smaller pool of foreign workers due to the closure of international borders means hospitality staff are highly sought after. In fact, that segment recorded the largest increase in job ads in April, up nearly 10%, government data showed.
About 37-M Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this weekend, up 60% from a year ago, according to AAA. While still 13% below Memorial Day 2019, the weekend kicks off a Summer that may look and feel increasingly normal even though gasoline prices are at 7yr highs.
Just this wk, seated diners at restaurants topped the Y 2019 mark for the 1st time since the onset of the virus attack, according to data from reservation site OpenTable.
The businesses are challenged.
Thursday, the benchmark US stock market indexes finished at: DJIA +141.59 at 34464.64, NAS Comp -1.72 to 13736.30, S&P 500 +4.89 at 4200.88, and the Russell 2000 +1.1% out preformed.
Volume: Trade on the NYSE came in at 1.9-B shares exchanged
HeffX-LTN’s overall technical analysis of the major US stock market indexes is Bullish to Very Bullish in here.
- Russell 2000 +15.1% YTD
- DJIA +12.6% YTD
- S&P 500 +11.8% YTD
- NAS Comp +6.6% YTD
Looking Ahead: Investors will receive Personal Income and Spending for April, the final University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for May, the Chicago PMI for May, and Advance International Trade in Goods, Retail Inventories, and Wholesale Inventories for April Friday
Have a healthy holiday weekend, Keep the Faith!
