One more week, the claims were almost four times higher than in the same period last year, before the pandemic brought the nation to a standstill. This underscores once again that job recovery is not in excellent shape as we approach a year since the pandemic hit the US.
However, there was a considerable drop in applications from the previous week and the first drop below 800,000 since the beginning of the month. The number of complaints last week was revised to 812,000, several times more than in the same period last year,
In addition to the usual unemployment benefits, 348,912 workers have applied for unemployment assistance in the event of a pandemic, which is available to people such as the self-employed or workers on leave.
Taken together, 1.2 million workers applied for benefits for the first time without adapting to seasonal fluctuations. It was a modest improvement over the previous week, with about 78,200 fewer applications.
Ongoing claims, which include people who have applied for at least two consecutive weeks of aid, amounted to 4.6 million. It fell from 4.8 million.
In fact, there have been improvements in almost every benefit category. In all, 17.8 million Americans received some form of government aid in the week ending January 16.
Only one category grew that week: federal employees and workers who receive extended benefits after maximizing other benefits available to them.