The number of new applications for unemployment benefits last week dropped 19,000 to 787,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the year ends with signs that layoffs remain extremely high by historical standards.
Economists had projected that there would be 833,000 new jobless claims.
Claims are running at about four times the pre-pandemic rate. The total number of claims for benefits in all programs for the week ending Dec. 12 was more than 19.5 million. For the comparable week in 2019, there were roughly 1.8 million claims.
“A year to forget will be anything but for the 19.5 million Americans collecting some form of unemployment compensation as of mid-December,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst.
Thursday’s report, the final one for this year, shows that layoffs continue to roil the labor market.
To address the problem, Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that provides additional aid to jobless workers.
The bill restores the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, or FPUC, supplement to all state and federal unemployment benefits at $300 per week, starting after Dec. 26 and ending March 14, 2021.
It also extends Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, to March 14, 2021. The PUA is a new category of eligibility for relief created for workers sidelined by the pandemic, such as gig workers whose work dried up. Over 8 million workers claimed this benefit for the week ending Dec. 12.
In addition, the legislation increases the number of weeks of jobless benefits an individual may claim from 39 weeks to 50 weeks.
