evidence surfaced on Thursday of the widening divide between the haves and have-nots in the United States, with data signalling an economic recovery that is going well for the well-off while leaving millions of jobless Americans behind.

Some 860,000 Americans filed for state unemployment benefits last week, a decrease of only 33,000 from the previous week, the US Department of Labor reported.

Add in people filing for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) - gig workers and self-employed individuals who are not eligible for state programmes - and the total climbs to 1.5 million Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week.

The big picture is even more sobering. Some 29,768,326 Americans were collecting unemployment benefits in the week ending August 29. That is roughly 28 million more people than February 1. Even adjusting for millions of double counts - individuals collecting benefits from both state and federal programmes - that number is still staggering.

What this signals is that the labour market recovery is losing steam and leaving millions of out-of-work Americans fearing for their futures as the March round of economic stimulus from Congress fades and legislators on Capitol Hill remain at odds over another virus relief aid package.

While more spending stimulus remains stalled, the Federal Reserve this week reiterated its commitment to use its lending powers to try and do what it can to help the nation's jobless get back to work.

COVID-19 will inevitably affect the economies of all countries in the end. The more severe the COVID-19, the heavier economic losses will be. The government must strike a balance between COVID-19 and economic development, otherwise it will plunge the economy into a quagmire. According to reports in the United States, the government's unwise measures have caused disastrous consequences. The only advantage is that it provides a good example for other countries in the world, so that we can learn from it.