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The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the hospitality, travel and retail industries since its outset in March, when shutdowns and restrictions meant to contain the virus cost more than 520,000 U.S. service workers their jobs. This workforce is under renewed pressure amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases: 498,000 leisure and hospitality jobs disappeared last month, the Labor Department reported Friday. Restaurant and bar workers comprised the bulk of those losses, roughly 3 in 4, an onslaught that disproportionately affected women and workers of color, the Washington Post reported. Overall employment in the sector has fallen 23 percent during the pandemic, outpacing every other industry, federal data shows. With new rounds of state-mandated restaurant and bar restrictions, and winter weather limiting outdoor dining, food services accounted for 372,000 job losses in December. That backslide obliterated significant hiring gains in industries like professional services, retail and construction, and the United States recorded a net loss of 140,000 jobs in December — its first negative showing since April.

The U.S. economy shed jobs for the first time in eight months in December as the country buckled under an onslaught of COVID-19 infections, suggesting a significant loss of momentum that could temporarily disrupt the recovery from the pandemic, Reuters reported. The plunge in nonfarm payrolls reported by the Labor Department on Friday was concentrated in the coronavirus-sensitive leisure and hospitality sector, which lost nearly half a million jobs. But with other industries including retail, manufacturing and construction performing better, the economy is unlikely to tip back into recession. Nearly $900 billion in additional pandemic relief approved by the government in late December will probably provide a backstop. More fiscal stimulus is expected now that Democrats have gained control of the U.S. Congress, boosting the prospects for President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. Payrolls decreased by 140,000 jobs last month, the first decline since April, after increasing by 336,000 in November. The economy has recovered 12.4 million of the 22.2 million jobs lost during the pandemic. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 71,000 jobs would be added in December. The leisure and hospitality sector lost 498,000 jobs last month, with employment at bars and restaurants tumbling 372,000, accounting for three quarters of the drop. Restaurants and bars in many states, including New York and California, were shut during the holidays to slow the spread of the virus.

U.S. private companies shed workers in December for the first time in eight months as out-of-control COVID-19 infections unleashed a fresh wave of business restrictions, setting the tone for what is likely to be a challenging winter for the economy, Reuters reported. The ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed job losses across all industries last month as the coronavirus outbreak kept many consumers and workers at home. While the report underscored the magnitude of the crisis, the economy was unlikely to slide back into recession, thanks to additional fiscal stimulus approved in late December. The ADP report added to slumping consumer spending and persistently high layoffs in suggesting that the economy lost significant momentum at the end of 2020. Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 15-16 meeting published on Wednesday showed policymakers expected skyrocketing cases “would be particularly challenging for the labor market in coming months.”

Reuters identified 106 U.S. workplaces where employees complained of slipshod pandemic safety practices around the time of outbreaks — and regulators either never inspected the facilities or, in some cases, waited months to do so, according to the OSHA records. The agency never inspected 70 of those workplaces, where at least 4,500 workers were infected by the coronavirus and 26 died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Reuters analysis. The workers’ regulatory complaints came from a cross-section of companies that included some of America’s best-known firms, including Tesla Inc and Tyson Foods Inc. As of mid-December, just 12 of the 106 facilities have been penalized in response to workers’ complaints. The complaints came from a wide range of workplaces, from meatpacking plants and factories to e-commerce warehouses and nursing homes. Their employees alleged failures to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing; managers pressuring sick employees to work; and a lack of notification to employees about co-workers’ infections.

A labor union representing newsroom employees at seven of Tribune Publishing Co.’s nine newspapers is demanding the removal from the board of three representatives of a hedge fund that has offered to buy the company and take it private, the New York Times reported. In a letter sent to Tribune’s chairman, Philip Franklin, the News Guild said that the hedge fund, Alden Global Capital LLC, had violated Securities and Exchange Commission rules by not informing shareholders of its buyout offer within the mandated 10 days after approaching the board. The guild said that the three Alden-appointed directors — one of whom is the hedge fund’s co-founder, Randall Smith — represented “gross violations of their fiduciary responsibilities” and that a special meeting should be called to vote on removing them. A spokesman for Alden challenged the union’s interpretation of events and said the fund had abided by the rules. On Thursday, Tribune said that it had appointed a special committee made up of three independent board members to review Alden’s offer. Alden holds a 32 percent stake in Tribune, whose properties include the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and the Baltimore Sun. On Dec. 31, Alden said it was interested in acquiring the rest of the publishing company for $14.25 a share, valuing Tribune at $521 million. Tribune’s shares have since risen by 17 percent as of yesterday morning.

House Democrats vowed yesterday to renew efforts on economic assistance — including state and local aid and potentially $2,000 checks to individuals — in the 117th Congress that is now getting underway, the Washington Post reported. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that the $2,000 checks amount to “unfinished business that should be continued as part of our effort to provide additional relief to the American people.” The House last week passed legislation providing for $2,000 relief checks, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rejected the measure even though President Trump was demanding it. Congress earlier approved a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that included $600 checks, legislation that Trump ultimately signed even while criticizing the size of the checks as “measly." Democrats anticipate writing a new relief bill once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in Jan. 20. Its contours are uncertain, however, and the path forward will depend on the outcome of two Senate runoffs in Georgia on Tuesday that will determine which party controls the Senate.

With his presidential inauguration just weeks away, Joseph R. Biden Jr. is confronting an economic crisis that is utterly unparalleled and yet eerily familiar. Millions of Americans are out of work, small businesses are struggling to survive, hunger is rampant, and people across the country fear getting kicked out of their homes, the New York Times reported. The moment was similarly perilous exactly 12 years ago, when Biden was the vice president-elect and preparing to take office. “I remember the utter terror,” said Cecilia Rouse, who was an economic adviser in the Obama White House and has been chosen to lead Mr. Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers. The $900 billion pandemic relief plan that moderate lawmakers powered through Congress last month provides the incoming administration with some breathing room. This second tier of aid will deliver $600 stimulus checks, assist small businesses and extend federal unemployment benefits through mid-March. But as Biden has made clear, it is simply a “down payment” — a brief bridge to get through a dark winter and not nearly enough to restore the economy’s health.

As 2020 comes to an end, the $600 promised by the federal government — poised to begin appearing in bank accounts soon — is welcome news to millions of needy Americans whose finances have been devastated after nine months of economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. But for people whose bank accounts are overdrawn, whether they get their hands on the money depends on what the country’s banks decide to do, the New York Times reported. Banks hold this power because, for a vast majority of people, the stimulus money will be deposited in the same bank accounts in which they also receive tax refunds. In the past week, the largest United States banks have pledged to temporarily zero out their customers’ negative balances so they can get access to their stimulus money and put it toward whatever expense seems the most pressing. Negative balances typically include the various fees that banks tack on to customers’ accounts for letting the customers withdraw more money than they have.

Twenty states and dozens of localities increased their minimum wage on Friday, giving a financial boost to many frontline workers during the pandemic, The Hill reported. New Mexico will see the largest jump, adding $1.50 to its hourly minimum and bringing it up to $10.50. Arkansas, California, Illinois and New Jersey will each increase their minimum wages by $1. Alaska, Maine and South Dakota will increase wages by just 15 cents an hour, while the rate in Minnesota will rise by half that, at 8 cents, to $10.08 an hour. Additional increases are scheduled for elsewhere this year, with most changes taking effect on July 1. Low-income earners, like much of the country’s workforce, have seen their wages remain relatively stagnant for decades when inflation is taken into account. Proponents say the new raises will help reduce poverty and offer much-needed pay hikes to some of the most vulnerable workers.