Hurricane Harvey pushed U.S. unemployment claims to the highest level in more than two years, after many workplaces in Texas were damaged by wind or submerged by floods.
On Thursday, Texas reported more than 51,000 new applications for financial assistance for newly-laid off workers. The state usually reports about 10,000 jobless claims per week. Outside Texas unemployment insurance claims did not change much, totaling 298,000 nationwide.
PNC Bank Chief Economist Gus Faucher says the labor market is “holding up” in the wake of the storm, and the economy remains close to full employment.
Other experts say the jobs lost to storm damage are expected to, eventually, be off-set by workers needed to rebuild homes and businesses. It is not yet clear how much impact Harvey will have on the nationwide unemployment rate.
In the meantime, monster Hurricane Irma has forced airlines to cancel over 1,800 flights to and from airports in the Caribbean and Florida. Experts at the FlightAware.com web site say that number is expected to rise sharply as the storm approaches Florida, home to Miami Airport, one of the busiest in the world. Miami usually sees over 1,200 flights a day to 150 destinations by 80 airlines.
The hurricanes are also causing headaches for the energy industry. Hurricane Harvey closed refineries and other facilities, pushed up U.S. gasoline prices 5.8 cents per liter (22 cents a gallon), and caused some shortages in Texas. Now many residents of Florida are fueling up and are fleeing the monster storm Irma. Bloomberg reports 1,200 gas stations are out of fuel, and the seaports that resupply them are expected to close as the storm gets closer. Reuters reports that Irma has shut oil terminals across the northern Caribbean, which is making fuel shortages from Hurricane Harvey worse.
