Continuing to Track the Economic Impact of Covid-19

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is continuing to track the impact Covid-19 is having on the local economy. We previously posted an overall review of their findings from surveys answered by manufacturing, non-manufacturing and other firms in the PA, NJ and DE areas, and now we have reviewed the changes that have taken place for the month of August.

The latest graphs created from the survey answers are as follows:

There is an overall increase in sales, even though the sales are still in the negative. This is a change from last month's survey that reported a decrease in sales for manufacturers.

It is nice to see that sales are back on the rise, but there is still a long way to go with this slow and steady climb.

There are little to no changes made to hiring in the labor force. More manufacturers claim to have hired new employees, while many non-manufacturers made no changes.

As for any impediments to hiring or bringing back workers, there seems to be less impediments for non-manufacturing jobs then there are for manufacturing jobs.

Manufacturers seem to be find that the expanded unemployment benefits and lack of childcare are two major issues when attempting to recall workers or hire new employees. The two could go hand in hand, where if you have lack of childcare and need to stay at home to help children with their online learning, then you would need to seek out unemployment benefits to help with the lack of income. Fear of infections is at 30 percent, and one of the bottom issues for workers who are reluctant to return to the labor force.

As a part of this August's survey's results, The Federal Reserve revisited a question posed for the survey of the week ending on May 31st. This graph shows the concerns of firms when asked about their various credit issues over the next month. It is indicated that the two major concerns for firms are "Collecting payables from customers" and "Maintaining adequate cash flow". This is understandable since if you are unable to collect payment, your cash flow will definitely be effected.

Thank you to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia for posting these findings. You can also find recent unemployment claims covering the months from March to present. Please refer to the link below to view their other survey results of previous months.

https://philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/regional-economy/covid19-economic-impacts