Welfare/Social Services

Record home prices and higher mortgage rates in May made it the most expensive month since 2006 to buy a home, prompting more buyers to give up and pressuring sellers to cut asking prices.The National Association of Realtors’…

A venture of a New York investment firm and a U.S. residential developer has agreed to pay $1.75 billion for six Manhattan rental apartment buildings, according to people familiar with the matter, the highest price tag for a New York…

Daily life in Shanghai has ground to a halt as parts of the city’s social services collapsed under the weight of a strict citywide Covid-19 lockdown that is stretching into a second month.Now, ordinary citizens have stepped up to fill the…

New applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell last week to historic lows as employers held on to their workers in the midst of a labor shortage. Initial jobless claims, a proxy…

GURNEE, Ill.—Inside a factory that is the size of five football fields, thousands of workers from Abbott Laboratories ABT 0.36% race to meet demand for America’s dominant Covid-19…

The dream of homeownership has grown more out of reach for middle-class Americans during the pandemic.The surge in home prices and sharp decline in the number of homes for sale have made home buying more difficult for many Americans…

WASHINGTON—Economist Philip Jefferson has called on the Federal Reserve to more closely consider how its policies shape the economic well-being of different groups of Americans. If confirmed for a seat on the…

Since New York state’s ban on most evictions ended this month the pace of evictions has been slow, as tenant attorneys work to delay cases in court and the governor requested more federal aid for rental assistance.Tens of thousands of…

HONG KONG—Stringent rules to try to keep Hong Kong free of Covid-19 are driving away more foreign executives, chipping away at the city’s decades-old status as one of the world’s top business hubs.Flight bans, lengthy quarantine stays for…

Americans shouldn’t expect the Omicron variant to peak nationwide in coming days, the U.S. surgeon general warned Sunday, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise and put more pressure on hospitals.“The next few weeks will be tough,” Dr. Vivek…