Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

U.S. NEWS A7
Applications for
unemployment
benefits tumble
JOSH BOAK
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Fewer Americans applied
for jobless aid last week,
the third straight drop in
a sign that the job market
remains healthy despite a
recent slowdown in hiring.
Weekly applications for un-
employment aid dipped
1,000 to a seasonally ad-
justed 267,000, the Labor
Department said Thursday.
The four-week average, a
less volatile measure, fell to and restructuring of the $38
276,750.
Applications are a proxy
for layoffs, so the decline
in jobless aid suggests that
companies are confident
enough to hold onto their
workers.
When layoffs are low, hir-
ing is usually steady.
Employers added 160,000
jobs in April, a slowdown
from prior monthly job
growth that averaged
more than 200,000.
Economists say that the
government jobs report
being released Friday will
show job growth in May at
roughly the same pace as
in April.
U.S. businesses added
173,000 jobs last month,
lifted by strong gains in ser- north of 300 percent. Last
vices industries, according
to a private survey by pay-
roll processor ADP. Appli-
cations have been below
300,000, a historically low
level, for 65 weeks, the lon-
gest such streak since 1973.
The number of people
collecting benefits has
dropped 2.6 percent over
the past year to 2.17 million
people.
Fewer requests for jobless
aid indicate that many em-
ployers are relatively un-
troubled by the slower eco-
nomic growth during the
first three months of 2016
and expect a rebound as
the year continues.q
Friday 3 June 2016
US Financial Front:
Feds looking to severely curb payday lendingÂ
KEN SWEET age borrower takes out industry, which had largely common with people who
AP Business Writer eight loans of $375 each been left to the states to take out payday loans.
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal per year, spending $520 on regulate. “Too many borrowers seek-
regulators proposed a sig- interest. The CFPB is proposing that ing a short-term cash fix are
nificant clampdown on John Charette, 47, of Yar- lenders must conduct saddled with loans they
payday lenders and other
high interest loans on Thurs- CFPB Director Richard Cordray, center, listens to comments during a panel discussion in Rich-
day, the first nationwide at- mond, Va. The CFPB announced Thursday, June 2, 2016, they are proposing a significant clamp-
tempt to address an indus- down on payday lenders and other providers of high-interest loans.
try widely thought of as tak-
ing advantage of the poor (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
and desperate.
The proposals, if enacted mouth, Maine, said the what’s known as a “full- cannot afford and sink into
intact, are likely to cause payday loan outfits can be payment test.” Because long-term debt,” CFPB Di-
a nationwide contraction helpful for people like him, most payday loans are rector Richard Cordray said
who’s divorced and has required to be paid in full in a prepared statement.
billion payday loan indus- bad credit. when they come due, usu- Cordray compared the sit-
try. Consumers desperate He used RepubliCash in ally two weeks to a month uation to getting into a taxi
to borrow money quickly Portland to get a $250 loan after the money is bor- for a crosstown ride and
to cover an unexpected to update the expired reg- rowed, the CFPB wants finding oneself stuck on a
expense might have an av- istration on his car, knowing lenders to prove that bor- “ruinously expensive” trip
enue they once used now a police citation would be rowers are able to repay across the country.
closed, since mainstream even more expensive. that money without having He said the proposal would
banks generally don’t pro- “It’s going to fill in the gap,” to renew the loan repeat- aim to “prevent lenders
vide these kinds of low-dol- Charette said, noting that edly. There would also be from succeeding by setting
lar, short-term loans. he’s unable to get a credit restrictions on the number up borrowers to fail.”
Payday lending is often card. “It’s another avenue of times a borrower can re- Payday lenders would
thought of as an exploi- for credit because I simply new the loan. have to give borrowers at
tive, deceptive industry don’t have it.” The CFPB would require least three days’ notice be-
that traps desperate bor- The Consumer Financial that lenders give additional fore debiting their account.
rowers in cycles of debt Protection Bureau’s pro- warnings before they at- Also, if the payday lender
that can last for months. posed regulations seek tempt to debit a borrow- attempts to collect the
Roughly half of all states to tackle common com- er’s bank account, and money for the loan twice
ban payday lending out- plaints about the payday also restrict the number of unsuccessfully, the lender
right or have caps on how lending industry. times they can attempt to will have to get written au-
much payday lenders can The proposal would also be debit the account. The aim thorization from the bor-
charge in interest, which the first nationwide regula- is to lower the frequency rower to attempt to debit
often carry annual rates tion of the payday lending of overdraft fees that are their account again. q
month Google announced
it would ban ad for payday
loans, saying the indus-
try creates “misleading or
harmful products.”
The loans are used
widely, partly because
many Americans do not
have enough savings to
cover an emergency , as
seen in a poll released last
month by The Associated
Press-NORC Center for Pub-
lic Affairs Research. Rough-
ly 12 million Americans take
out a payday loan each
year, according to The Pew
Charitable Trusts, who has
done extensive research
on the industry. The aver-