Weekly jobless claims rise to 1.4 million, first increase since March
By Sylvan Lane - 07/23/20 08:51 AM EDT
New weekly claims for unemployment insurance rose for the first time since March last week as more than 1.4 million Americans applied for jobless benefits for the first time amid the second surge of coronavirus cases, according to the Department of Labor.
In the week ending July 18, seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits totaled 1,416,000. Another 975,000 people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program for those that don’t qualify for traditional jobless benefits, that week, bringing the total number of new weekly claims above 2.3 million.
After months of steady, though narrowing declines, weekly unemployment claims rose for the time in 15 weeks. Roughly 1.3 million people filed claims for traditional unemployment benefits the previous week.
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https://thehill.com/policy/finance/508647-weekly-jobless-claims-rise-to-14-million-first-increase-since-march
