Delta Surge Slows Recovery As Parts Of Pandemic Safety Net Disappear

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🗓️ 8 September 2021

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Last week's jobs report for the month of August show signs the delta surge is slowing the economic recovery, just as some pandemic safety net programs disappear. The Supreme Court recently struck down a federal eviction moratorium, and supplemental pandemic unemployment benefits expired on Monday.

NPR's chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley explains what that could mean for the pace of the recovery.

With a federal eviction ban no longer in effect, renters could tap into billions of dollars in federal rental assistance authorized by Congress. But there's a problem: states have been slow to get that money into programs that can distribute it to tenants and landlords. NPR's Laurel Wamsley reports on one effort to speed things up in Tennessee.

Additional reporting in this episode from NPR's Chris Arnold, who's been covering evictions during the pandemic.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Economists have been saying it since last year.
0:03.6	The direction of the economy depends on the direction of the pandemic.
0:07.8	Yes, the jobs report is out.
0:10.7	August non-farm payrolls increase a minuscule, 235,000.
0:18.3	235,000.
0:19.3	You heard me right.
0:21.5	Forecast for the Labor Department's August jobs report released last week had been much
0:27.6	higher.
0:28.6	Absolutely not seeing what we thought we were going to see.
0:31.9	After all in July, the economy added more than a million jobs and a lot of those in
0:36.7	bars and restaurants.
0:38.6	But that sector actually lost jobs in August, 42,000 of them.
0:43.0	There's no getting around the fact that it's a disappointing number.
0:46.1	So what happened?
0:47.7	We need to make more progress in fighting the Delta variant of COVID-19.
0:52.3	President Biden said last week the Delta surge was dragging things down.
0:56.3	People are shopping and eating out less.
0:58.7	Businesses are still short-staffed.
1:01.6	Hospitals are slammed again.
1:03.7	All while COVID deaths in the US went from a low of less than 200 people a day in July
1:09.4	to nearly 1200 people a day in August.
1:12.8	Too many have not gotten vaccinated and is creating a lot of monies in our economy and
	...

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