Around 2.98 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment claims last week, more than economist expectations of 2.7 million, and the eighth-straight week of numbers in the millions.
The weekly jobless claims total, released by the Department of Labor on Thursday morning, nonetheless continues a downward trend, as more workers return to their jobs after coronavirus-induced lockdowns are lifted across the country.
There has been a steady decline in the number of weekly claims since mid-March, when first-time filings peaked at 6.9 million in just one week, 10 times the number from the peak of the Great Recession.
States may finally be getting through the backlogs of filers that initially overwhelmed their antiquated systems, while the onslaught of first-time applications may also be tapering off after two months of business closings because of the coronavirus.
Continuing claims, a metric that captures the total number of people receiving ongoing benefits, is now at around 22.8 million.
Source: NBC News
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