Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week following three straight increases amid a surge in cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant.

An IRS worker shortage, an enormous workload from administering pandemic-related programs and stalled legislation that would have given the agency billions of dollars for more expeditiously processing returns are combining to cause taxpayers pain this filing season. 

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in three months as the fast-spreading omicron variant disrupted the job market.

The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job.

Louisiana officials said today that they hope the state is nearing a peak in new COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant—which health experts blame for the state's fifth surge in new cases and hospitalizations—but they don’t yet see data indicating the peak has arrived.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this past week, reaching their highest level since March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic was breaking in the U.S.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since mid-November, but still low by historical standards.

Inflation jumped in December at its fastest year-over-year pace in nearly four decades, surging 7% and raising costs for consumers, offsetting recent wage gains and heightening pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what is increasingly Americans’ central economic concern.

This year's tax filing season will begin Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last year, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical today of the Biden administration's authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation's large employers. The court seemed more open to a separate vaccine mandate for most health care workers.