There are now 4.5 million such people looking for work. That includes 742,000 who have had temporary jobs come to an end and 3.8 million who have lost permanent jobs. The number of permanent job losers among the unemployed has more than doubled in the last six months, the fastest pace of increase on record.
The good news for the labor market is millions of workers who were laid off have returned to work in the past five months. Enough to lift the total number of US jobs every month since the spike of job losses that occurred in April.
The number of unemployed who have lost a permanent job, or had a temporary job has come to an end, has soared in the past seven months, from 1.9 million in February to 4.5 million in September.
American (AAL)and United Airlines (UAL)cut 32,000 jobs on Thursday alone. Disney (DIS) has announced plans to permanently cut 28,000 workers who have been on temporary furlough before now at its US theme parks. JCPenney (JCP) plans to cut 15,000 jobs as its closes 149 stores ahead of the holiday shopping season as part of its plan to emerge from bankruptcy. On Sunday, Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, said it may have to close more than 500 US theaters indefinitely.
