In the United States, a wave of layoffs in large companies - France 24

New York (AFP)

Hard hit by the pandemic, without new government aid, the multinationals Disney, American Airlines and United Airlines alone announced 60,000 layoffs in 24 hours, accentuating a wave of social plans in the run-up to the US presidential election.

The insurer AllState also warned Wednesday that it was going to lay off 3,800 people, while Marathon Petroleum announced the departure of 2,050 employees, or 12% of its workforce.

The wave of cuts spares almost no sector.

Goldman Sachs plans to fire around 400 people.

This is a modest figure but which marks the end of a moratorium on layoffs that the prestigious firm imposed on itself at the start of the pandemic.

When the Covid-19 crisis hit the United States, service sectors such as restaurants, hotels and leisure were the first to lay off en masse.

Some large companies have benefited from government aid to save jobs, such as airlines.

But the financial support dedicated to them expired on Wednesday.

Republicans and Democrats have not reached a compromise on an extension, American and United will begin to lay off Thursday 19,000 and 13,000 people respectively.

Other smaller companies like Hawaiian Airlines are also planning to cut staff.

Tens of thousands of workers considered essential workers suddenly find themselves without a job, the president of the flight attendants union Sara Nelson lamented in a statement, blaming politicians for their inaction.

"They don't know how they will pay their rent, feed their families or cover the cost of their drugs and medical care," she said.

"We didn't have to come to this."

These are currently 26.6 million people who receive assistance related to loss of income, all measures included.

- 'Political game' -

Disney, announcing 28,000 job cuts on Tuesday, said it had worked "tirelessly" to avoid having to separate from anyone.

To be ready to bounce back quickly when the time comes, some companies are reluctant to part with already trained employees.

But with the restrictions imposed for several months in its theme parks, Disney ensures that it could not keep all of its employees.

"The first phase of the crisis, marked by a sudden stop in consumption and investment, gives way to an environment in which part of the demand has picked up but where the sectors most exposed to the virus remain in a critical situation", says Gregory Daco, economist for Oxford Economics.

Some companies such as airlines are also engaged according to him in a "political game": American as United have warned that they could renounce their layoffs if a new aid to the airline sector is adopted in the coming days.

- Amazon, Walmart, Fedex -

All is not gloomy in the US job market.

Private sector companies created 749,000 jobs in September, much more than in August, according to a survey by business services firm ADP released Wednesday.

And weekly jobless claims are down again last week in the United States, according to figures released Thursday by the Department of Labor.

However, they remain "at a high level", underlines Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics.

"Even if some jobs are returning, job losses are increasing, reflecting persistent tensions in the labor market," said the economist.

The always-awaited monthly employment report in the country will be released on Friday.

After peaking at 14.7% in April, the unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in August.

Which remains well above the 3.5% before the pandemic.

The much higher rise in the unemployment rate in the United States than in other Western countries is explained by the strategy adopted by the governments, estimate the economists of the branch of the Federal Reserve of St Louis.

Governments in Europe and Japan "have focused on maintaining employer-employee relationships," they explain in a recent blog.

"In the United States, policy has focused on granting unemployment benefits to workers laid off or on leave," they add.

However, the pandemic is benefiting certain sectors and companies.

Thanks to the explosion of online commerce, Amazon announced in mid-September the creation of 100,000 additional jobs in the United States and Canada.

Other companies like the supermarket chain Walmart or the logistics group Fedex have also hired cheerfully.

© 2020 AFP