A further 965,000 people filed for initial unemployment benefits in the United States last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
That was significantly higher than the week before, when 784,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits.
Weekly first applications for unemployment remain at an uncomfortably high level. The figure fell below 1 million at the end of August, but significant improvements have been difficult to achieve since then – and last week marked a huge step in the wrong direction.
In addition to the regular claims, 284,470 employees filed claims for pandemic unemployment assistance. The program offers help to people such as the self-employed or handymen, who are not covered by the regular benefit. After the new stimulus agreement extended the program, it now expires in March.
Added together, initial benefit claims last week were 1.4 million, excluding seasonal adjustments.
Ongoing claims, counting employees who have applied for aid for at least two weeks in a row, totaled 5.3 million in the week ending Jan. 2.
This is a story in progress. It will be updated