Another 965,000 people filed for unemployment insurance for the first time on a seasonally adjusted basis in the United States last week, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.
This was substantially higher than the week before, in which 784,000 Americans applied for unemployment insurance.
Weekly unemployment insurance claims for the first time are stagnating at an uncomfortably high level. In late August, the number dropped to less than 1 million, but since then, significant improvements have been hard to come by – and last week was a big step in the wrong direction.
In addition to regular complaints, 284,470 workers filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The program offers help to people as self-employed or temporary workers, who are not covered by regular benefits. After the new stimulus agreement extended the program, it is now scheduled to end in March.
Together, claims for initial benefits totaled 1.4 million last week, excluding seasonal adjustments.
The continuing claims, which count workers who have asked for help for at least two consecutive weeks, reached 5.3 million in the week ending January 2.
This is a developing story. Will be updated