Here’s today’s update:
- Some very encouraging economic news out this morning: the American economy added 4.8 million jobs last month.
- June’s 4.8 million jobs created is easily the largest monthly job gain in U.S. history.
- The unemployment rate fell from 13.3 percent to 11.1 percent. Employment increased significantly in some of the parts of our economy hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak: leisure & hospitality, retail, education & health services, and manufacturing.
- The economy’s performance smashed forecasters’ expectations by 1.7 million jobs – more than the total population of Hawaii. The unemployment rate fell by 1.4 percentage points more than expected.
- The 4.8 million jobs created in June, together with the 2.7 million jobs added in May, represent the recovery of roughly one third of the COVID-related job losses in March and April.
This is the second consecutive month of historic job gains, which shows the U.S. economy is poised to come back strong once the COVID-19 threat is behind us. It also shows that programs like the Paycheck Protection Program are helping keep our economy afloat. To be sure, challenges remain. Far too many Americans are out of work, some states have chosen to pause or reverse their reopening plans, and we still don’t have a vaccine. (However, the experts speaking with us as members of Congress are very optimistic that we will have a vaccine perhaps as early as January, which would be record time.) These numbers affirm the underlying strength of the American economy and just how eager Americans are to get back to work as soon as they can do so safely.
- Last night, the House passed an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program loan application deadline following the Senate’s action to extend the deadline on Tuesday night. President Trump is expected to sign the extension into law, which will extend the loan application period to August 8th. As I mentioned yesterday, the PPP program has about $134 billion in funding authorized by Congress still available for small businesses.
- Here’s the latest report on PPP funding approved through the end of last week:
- So far, the program has funded nearly 4.8 million loans to U.S. small businesses, valued at almost $519 billion.
- 5,458 lenders have issued PPP loans so far, of which the vast majority – more than 5,300 – were smaller lenders with fewer than $10 billion in assets.
- Overall, the average loan size nationwide is about $108,000.
- North Carolina has received just under 120,000 PPP loans, for a net total of $12.359 billion in loans to help keep our small businesses afloat.
- UNC Wilmington announced on Wednesday that it would again reschedule its spring Class of 2020 commencement ceremonies. The university says the extension of North Carolina’s Phase Two through July 17 means the school would not have enough time to coordinate the events, which had originally been rescheduled for August 7 and 8. The school’s administration anticipates holding the ceremonies in conjunction with its fall commencement events in December. More information from UNC-W is available here.
- The Wayne County Health Department & Wayne UNC Health Care are offering free COVID-19 testing in Seven Springs on July 7, 2020 and July 9, 2020 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Testing will be offered at Spring Creek Middle School at 3579 NC-111 in Seven Springs. Residents must visit Spring Creek Middle School, not the Health Department, for testing. Testing is open to everyone, regardless of symptoms, and pre-registration is strongly recommended to ensure an appointment time. To pre-register, individuals may call the Health Department at (919) 731-1000 from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday, July 6, 2020. More information is available here.
Today’s good news story is a simple reminder of the greatness of America. We are all human, which means none of us are perfect and neither were our Founding Fathers. But we live in a country that has benefitted tremendously from their foresight and wisdom, enabling this country to be the great beacon of liberty all around the world. They were great students of history and they understood tyranny in all of its forms, which is simply an outgrowth of mankind’s evil nature.
Every year at this time we celebrate the birth of our nation — this great experiment in self-government. COVID-19 has changed how we celebrate the Fourth of July, temporarily, but it hasn’t changed the meaning of what we celebrate. The families here in North Carolina’s 7th District exemplify the best of our country and the founding principles upon which our nation was built: the commitment to faith and family, the sense of community where we each look out for our neighbors, and with the understanding that “...all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...” Those words were declared in Philadelphia 244 years ago, and we as a nation continue to hold these truths to be self-evident.
May you and yours have a safe, blessed and happy Fourth of July.
