The number of new applications for unemployment benefits last week was 963,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as jobless claims for the first time dropped below a million after 20 consecutive weeks of being above that figure.
Economists had projected that claims would total 1.1 million.
The total number of people claiming jobless benefits in all programs for the week ending July 25 was 28.3 million, a decrease of over 3 million from the previous week. For comparison, there were 1.7 million people claiming benefits for all programs in the same week in 2019.
While jobless claims remain at historic highs, Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, noted that they have fallen in places particularly affected by the coronavirus.
“Many of the recent COVID-19 hot-spot states saw declines in new claims,” he said.
Florida saw a drop of over 23,000 in initial claims between the week ending Aug. 8 and the week prior. Georgia and Texas saw decreases of over 11,000 each over the same time period.
Still, the persistently high number of claims suggests the jobs recovery is moving at a slow pace.
After jobless claims skyrocketed in March, with 6.9 million filing for benefits for the week ending March 28, the number of workers claiming unemployment benefits dropped precipitously through the end of May but had yet to fall below a million until this week.
In addition to regular unemployment benefits, jobless workers could file for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a special program to provide relief for people sidelined by the pandemic who normally wouldn’t be eligible for unemployment, such as independent contractors whose work dried up.
This program expired last month. During the week ending July 25, 49 states reported 10.7 million individuals claiming this benefit before it ended.
As multitudes of workers file for unemployment each week, Washington has struggled to extend the expired $600 extra unemployment benefit. Lawmakers in both parties, including President Trump, support extending the enhanced benefit, but they can’t agree on a dollar amount for the payment.
Trump signed an executive order on Saturday meant to provide a $400 bonus payment to unemployed workers. However, that would be $200 less than what the previous benefits provided before expiring in July.
House Democrats passed legislation that would extend the $600 payment until Jan. 31, 2021, for most jobless workers.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans included a $200 additional unemployment payment in the HEALS Act that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, released in July.
Democrats and Republicans, including White House officials, last week failed to reach an agreement on a federal relief package that likely would have extended the enhanced unemployment payments at some level. Further negotiations on that relief plan have so far not been announced.
