We examine the relationship between unemployment insurance and job search using data from 2013 through 2019. Our research shows that the unemployed exert a high level of effort to find work. This is especially true for those receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits search less intensely for work, but are also willing to accept work that pays considerably less than their prior job.

The goal of the Main Street Lending Program is to keep credit flowing to small and mid-sized businesses that were in sound financial condition before the coronavirus pandemic but now need financing to maintain operations.

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Roadmap to Reopening

This website contains links to recordings of industry-specific webinars to help businesses and organizations think through the procedures and protocols to consider implementing for reopening.

In order to understand better how the unfolding economic crisis is likely to affect U.S. households, this Chicago Fed Letter looks at what happens when borrowers miss debt payments and how long it takes for them to face a severe adverse consequence, such as foreclosure, wage garnishment, or repossession.

In summary, a household would face the fastest repercussion if they were to miss a payment on an auto, credit card, or payday loan (see figure 1). In response to delinquency, auto lenders can initiate repossession, while the main recourse of payday and credit card lenders is to cut off further access to credit. Auto loans are an area of particular concern, as they had relatively poor credit quality before the Covid-19 crisis began. In contrast, mortgages and student loans typically allow borrowers much longer periods to get back on track with their payments. Moreover, mortgage and student loan borrowers are likely to receive extensive forbearance through recently...

Federal bank regulators have issued statements and guidance throughout the Covid-19 pandemic encouraging financial institutions to “meet the financial needs of their customers and members in areas affected by Covid-19.” In the past, regulators have indicated how financial institutions can prudently respond to disasters and national emergencies, and how examiners will view a financial institution’s good-faith efforts to address its communities’ and customers’ needs. The agencies more recently issued an interagency Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) “to clarify how agencies will consider activities responsive to community needs during the Covid-19 emergency,” with regards to financial institutions’ responsibilities under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  

The FAQ explains how a bank’s retail and community development activities will be considered for CRA examinations, including: 

On June 8, 2020, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) issued a statement announcing that its Business Cycle Dating Committee determined U.S. economic activity had reached a cyclical peak in February 2020. Beginning in March 2020, a multitude of economic indicators declined sharply as public health orders that required nonessential businesses to close were implemented during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic here in the U.S. The declines then accelerated in April as these orders were expanded to cover nearly the entire country. However, the data for May released so far seem to indicate that once the orders were eased or lifted, the rates of decline slowed. Here, we take a closer look at these changes using several summary indexes of economic activity.

The first index we examine is the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI). The CFNAI is a monthly index designed to gauge overall economic activity for the U.S. based on 85 economic indicators...

In late April, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago collaborated with the executive associations of the chambers of commerce in its five District states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin) to conduct a survey on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on chamber members’ businesses. This survey was based on the methodology of the broader Chicago Fed Survey of Business Conditions (CFSBC). The new survey asked questions about the impact of the outbreak so far and expectations for the coming months. The survey was voluntary, and we primarily heard from small businesses in industries heavily affected by Covid-19.

The main results are as follows:

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The Chicago Fed’s National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) provides a comprehensive weekly update on U.S. financial conditions in money markets, debt and equity markets and the traditional and “shadow” banking systems. Because U.S. economic and financial conditions tend to be highly correlated, we also present an alternative index, the adjusted NFCI (ANFCI). This index isolates a component of financial conditions uncorrelated with economic conditions to provide an update on financial conditions relative to current economic conditions.

The NFCI and ANFCI are updated on a weekly basis at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, and cover the time period through the previous Friday. When a federal holiday falls on a Wednesday or earlier in the week, the NFCI and ANFCI will be updated on Thursday.

The goal of the Main Street Lending Program is to keep credit flowing to small and mid-sized businesses that were in sound financial condition before the coronavirus pandemic but now need financing to maintain operations.

Update #2, June 12, 2020: Following the release of the latest Current Population Survey estimates and related micro data, we are able to calculate the U-Cov rate for May, which was 27.6% (not seasonally adjusted). This was a 3.1 percentage point decrease from April, but still 17.0 percentage points above its February 2020 rate. In comparison, the official “U3” unemployment rate fell by 1.4 percentage points between April and May to 13.0% (not seasonally adjusted), and remains 9.2 percentage points above its February 2020 rate. A 257,000 decrease in the number of people working part-time for economic reasons, a 2.0 million decrease in those on unpaid leave, and a 345,000 decrease in those out of the labor force that want a job all contributed to the change in the U-Cov rate. These were in addition to the 2.0 million decrease in the unemployed, which also contributed to the decline in the U-Cov rate. Notably, the decline in unemployment reflected a 2.9 million decline in...