In addition, 426,856 workers applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program designed to provide help to those who are not entitled to regular state benefits, such as temporary workers. PUA claims are not adjusted for seasonal variations.
Together, the initial claims stood at 1.3 million without seasonal adjustments.
Continued claims for unemployment benefits, which count workers who have applied for benefits for at least two consecutive weeks, fell slightly to 4.8 million.
A year ago, claims for unemployment insurance were around 200,000 a week. Therefore, America has a long way to go back to that healthy level.
To this end, Biden signed several executive orders to create new jobs, focusing on green energy jobs that will help the United States prepare for the economy of the future. The White House also proposed an increase in weekly emergency unemployment benefits as part of a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus project aimed at relaunching the economy.
But Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the priority should be to vaccinate the American population against Covid-19. No program can help bring the economy back to normal until the pandemic is under control.
“There have been many adaptations – but it is not possible to adapt hotels, sports facilities, cinemas, restaurants, bars. There are millions and millions of people,” Powell told a news conference.
“And then you will just have to defeat the pandemic … The main aspect of the economy is to keep the pandemic under control, to vaccinate everyone, to make people wear masks and everything,” he added. “This is the most important economic growth policy we can have.”