The first claims for unemployment insurance totaled 793,000 last week, as the reduction in Covid-19 cases provided little relief for the job market.
The total for the week ending February 6 was above the forecast of 760,000 economists polled by Dow Jones, but a slight decrease from the previous week’s upward revised total of 812,000.
The pandemic era provided a long battle for the labor market to return to its previous level. The non-farm payroll increased only 49,000 in January, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, mainly due to a decline in the workforce.
Continued claims for benefits, which are a week behind the weekly number, have also declined, falling from 145,000 to 4.54 million.
However, the total of those receiving benefits across the program jumped to 20.44 million due to an increase in registrations for two pandemic compensation programs: for those who would not receive benefits otherwise and for those whose regular benefits ended .
Enrollments in special pandemic programs increased by almost 2.7 million in the week ending January 23.
The programs had expired on December 26, but were renewed by Congress for 2021. Problems with the paperwork resulted in delays for several states, such as Ohio, which saw an increase of more than 90,000 complaints last week, according to unadjusted data . The new legislation offers benefits of $ 300 more than recipients would normally receive.
California also saw a notable increase, with 23,588 new orders. Several states have seen large declines, including Florida (-51,519), New York (-19,824) and Maryland (-19,736).
More than 10 million workers are unemployed, despite about 12.5 million more jobs recovered since the peak of the pandemic in March and April.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the employment picture remains “too far” from where it should be and said the central bank is committed to keeping interest rates low until further progress is made.