The number of new applications for unemployment benefits last week rose to 1.1 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday, exceeding forecasters’ expectations and signaling that layoffs are still very high and may be picking up pace.
The number of weekly claims is extremely high by historical standards. Before the pandemic, the average number of new weekly jobless claims was 218,000, according to Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com.
“One has to be disappointed to see the rebound in new claims for unemployment benefits,” he said.
New Jersey saw the largest increase in claims last week with over 10,000 filing for jobless benefits, followed closely by New York with over 9,700 claims.
There was some modest good news in Thursday’s report, though: The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Aug. 1 fell by nearly 200,000 to 28 million.
As the coronavirus hit the United States and the economy locked down to slow its spread, 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 remained above a million until the week ending Aug. 8 before reversing course and rising above a million again.
Thursday’s jobless report is also the first since the Small Business Association stopped accepting applications for the Payroll Protection Program, which provided loans to businesses that keep workers on their payroll. The deadline to submit an application for the program was Aug. 8.
