American workers filed 787,000 applications for jobless benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic has kept up pressure on the labor market.
Last week’s jobless claims bring the total reported during the COVID-19 pandemic to about 73 million — equivalent to the populations of France and Portugal combined.
The claims were down from the previous week’s revised total of 806,000. The figure breaks a three-week streak of jobless numbers clocking in above 800,000.
New filings, however, have remained above the pre-pandemic record of 695,000 for 10 straight months despite falling sharply from their late March peak of about 6.8 million.
These are the first jobless claims since Americans began receiving their long-awaited COVID-19 stimulus checks. The $600 will be showing up in the bank accounts of people who have direct deposit set up with the IRS over the next week. The Treasury began mailing out physical checks on Wednesday for individuals who do not have their accounts linked.
