California jobless claims drop sharply
Initial unemployment claims in California last week fell to their lowest level in 10 months, a federal report released Thursday shows, marking a rare bright spot for the state’s economy while the coronavirus rages on.
An estimated 123,970 California workers filed first-time jobless claims during the week that ended Jan. 16, down 58,655 from the week that ended Jan. 9, the U.S. Labor Department reported.
The state’s number of initial jobless claims fell to the lowest level since March 14, which marked the beginning of coronavirus-linked business shutdowns ordered by state and local government agencies to combat the spread of the deadly bug.
The decrease in first-time jobless claims for the week that ended Jan. 16 represented the largest weekly decline in unemployment filings for California. The largest previous one-week drop came on May 9, when claims declined by 103,590.
Unemployment claims in the United States totaled 900,000 for the week that ended Jan. 16, down 26,000 from the 926,000 first-time claims that were filed in the week ending Jan. 9.
— Staff writer George Avalos
Trader Joe’s, Instacart to pay workers to get vaccine
A growing number of large U.S. chains are offering their workers incentives to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Grocery chain Aldi said Tuesday that it will provide its hourly workers with two hours of pay for each vaccine dose they receive, giving workers up to four hours total of paid time off. Aldi also said it will “cover costs associated with vaccine administration” for employees who want to get vaccinated.
Aldi is “ensuring that all hourly workers who wish to receive the vaccine are able to do so without concern about losing pay or taking time away from work,” the company said in a news release.
Aldi joins Dollar General, Trader Joe’s and Instacart as major U.S. companies that have made similar moves.
Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery platform, also said last week that it will provide some financial assistance for its in-store workers and independent contractors.
Beginning Feb. 1, Instacart will have a “vaccine support stipend” of $25 available for in-store employees and its independent contractors who have been vaccinated. To be eligible, its independent shoppers must have shopped and delivered at least five batches for the company in the past 30 days.
Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Instacart and Dollar General are all stopping short of mandating vaccinations for their employees.
My Pillow products shunned by some retailers
Bed Bath & Beyond has stopped selling products from the bedding company My Pillow due to slow sales. The move follows claims by My Pillow’s chief executive officer that the presidential election was fraudulent.
“We have been rationalizing our assortment to discontinue a number of underperforming items and brands. This includes the My Pillow product line,” the company said in a statement.
Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow, said in a recent interview that Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s Corp., HEB Grocery Co. and Wayfair Inc. are dropping My Pillow products. Calls on social media to boycott the brand have grown after Lindell, an ardent loyalist of former President Donald Trump, claimed without evidence that Trump won the election.
As of Tuesday, My Pillow products were still available on the Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s websites. Retailers generally sell discontinued products until inventories are depleted.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s action echoes moves made by other retailers in recent years, which dropped Trump-affiliated products amid growing controversy related to the president. When Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus cut Ivanka Trump’s fashion line in 2017, each cited poor performance as the reason.