Weekly jobless claims rise to 885,000
By Niv Elis - 12/17/20 08:40 AM EST
Weekly jobless claims rose for the second week in a row according to a report released Thursday, reaching a seasonally adjusted 885,000 in the second week of December, according to the Labor Department.
The claims were up 23,000 higher than the previous week's figures, which themselves were revised upwards by 9,000.
The post-Thanksgiving uptick in claims is a sign that the economic recovery is not only stalling, but may be reversing.
The latest claims data comes as COVID-19 cases continue to break records in the United States.
On an unadjusted basis, the data showed 935,000 claims, a 21,335 drop. Seasonal factors would have predicted double the decline.
Another 455,000 signed onto the special CARES Act Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which expanded unemployment eligibility to gig economy workers and the self-employed.
Combined, initial weekly regular claims and PUA claims have spiked by nearly 400,000 in the past month.
All in all, the department registered over 20.6 million continuing claims in the last week of November, according to the most recent data. The Labor Department notes that the number of claims may be larger than the total number of people receiving benefits.
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https://thehill.com/policy/finance/530624-weekly-jobless-claims-rise-to-885000
