BALTIMORE — Joe Biden will inherit a mangled U.S. economy — one that never fully healed from the coronavirus and could suffer again as new infections are climbing.
The once robust recovery has shown signs of gasping after federal aid lapsed. Ten million remain jobless and more layoffs are becoming permanent. The Federal Reserve says factory output dropped.
Parents cannot return to work as childcare centres have shuttered. Restaurants and local retailers are draining whatever cash reserves are left–with many owners wondering if the next week might be their last. One in six restaurants was already closed in September, according to an industry survey.
Biden will also be facing an American public with decidedly different views about their own financial well-being, with higher income families weathering the pandemic reasonably well and those earning far less in increasing economic peril.
It will in some ways be a reprise of when Biden became vice-president at the depths of the financial crisis in 2008-09, with possibly fewer tools and less political leverage to press an agenda to both corral the virus and stoke economic growth.
He is expected to somehow inject enough aid to sustain workers, businesses and state and local governments, without necessarily having enough congressional partners who share his concerns. All of this could be the difference between a successful presidency and a floundering one.
It’s unclear whether his victory was enough to tip the Senate to the Democrats — with two Senate seat runoffs in Georgia — and provide a clearer pathway for the money. This means that any efforts to secure another round of aid may depend on Republicans who were already voicing concerns about a rising budget deficit before the election.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell of Kentucky previously said a measure should be passed before year-end, but it’s unknown in the aftermath of the election what a compromise would look like or whether President Donald Trump would back it. The longer that aid gets delayed, the greater the threat for the economy.
“The risk is that the recovery goes into reverse,” said Gregory Daco, an economist for the consultancy Oxford Economics.
AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 110,000 voters, found that the recession’s harm has mostly struck lower-income households, though most people were shielded in large part by initial rounds of aid that nearly totalled $3 trillion.
Twenty-nine per cent of voters in households earning less than $50,000 annually said they’re falling behind financially. Their misfortune is a sharp contrast to what’s happening for those with incomes above $100,000. Not only are higher-earners less likely to be struggling, but 26% said their finances are improving.
Biden received more support than Trump from households earning less than $50,000. Voters in higher income households were more closely split between the two candidates.
Among Biden voters, 89% said it was more important to contain the pandemic than limit any ongoing damage to the economy. This is likely because they see no trade-off: the economy will never safely recover so long as the threat of the coronavirus exists.
“To get the economy under control, you need to get the virus under control,” said Amanda Fischer, policy director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a liberal think-tank . “It’s the K-shaped recovery—we see a divide between the wealthiest and everyone else.”
The economy was objectively hurting as ballots were cast, even if it has improved since April. The unemployment rate was 6.9%, compared to 4.7% when Trump took office. Retail sales slipped 0.8% since the start of 2020, with a collapse at restaurants, clothiers and furniture stores.
“The labour market still has a long way to go to recover to where it was before the pandemic,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist at the job posting firm Indeed. “Employment is down in almost all industries, dramatically down in industries that depend on travel and large gatherings.”
The nation’s top public health officials are warning that the virus is likely escalating — record numbers of cases have been reported this week — and are beseeching Americans to wear masks, maintain social distance, and avoid large groups, especially indoors. The worsening disease could force more businesses to close.
Still, 43% of voters believed the economy was excellent or good. This includes about three-quarters of voters backing Trump, who campaigned on the idea that the economy was booming and would continue to do if he remained president. With Biden in the White House, these once-optimistic voters may suddenly switch and say the economy is troubled.
“That’s what we saw in 2016 — a reversal by party in economic confidence,” Kolko said. “It was dramatic and very quick after the election. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the same.”
Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note Wednesday that control of the Senate will determine how much additional aid gets approved. He anticipates Republican control means a stimulus package under $1 trillion, but a Senate Democratic majority with Biden in the White House would push that up to $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a Thursday news conference that the pace of any recovery will depend on approving more aid, though he noted that the path of the economy will likely mirror the path of the disease.
“We’ll have a stronger recovery if we can just get at least some more fiscal support,” Powell said.
AP VoteCast indicates that there is little to no reservoir of bipartisanship for crafting policies to help the country. The vast majority of Trump voters, 85%, believe that corruption would be a “major problem” in a Biden presidency. Likewise, 92% of Biden voters say corruption would be a “major problem” if Trump secured a second term.
There is also a philosophical divide: Most Biden voters believe the government should do more to solve the nation’s problems, while most Trump voters say the government is already doing too much.
Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, estimates that the Democrats and Republicans have about $500 billion worth of shared priorities for additional aid. That might leave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with little choice but to accept that sum, if Republicans preserve their Senate majority.
“Republicans have little reason to budge,” he said. “So the question is whether Democrats will accept a $500 billion package and come back later for more, or continue the stalemate.”
Part of the challenge is not just the size of any aid package, but whether it helps state and local governments that are starving for tax revenue and whether it can be passed quickly enough to help the families most in need. Trump has already colored that debate by saying that Democrats want to bailout poorly managed states, a talking point echoed by some Republicans.
The problem for Biden is that the group he lifted up during the election — the poor and the working class — are the ones who will bear the most pain from any gridlock.
“The U.S. economy is operating at around 80% of total capacity to produce and consume,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax advisory and consultant.
“The U.S. can afford to wait on additional fiscal aid,” he said, but “the poor and working class are going to pay a terrible price.”
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AP polling reporter Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report from Washington.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
