America’s unemployment crisis is now President Joe Biden’s problem, and jobless claims in his (partial) first week as president show how far the economy has to go to get back to normal.
Another 847,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Department of Labor. It was a decrease from the 914,000 claims in the week before.
On top of that, 426,856 workers filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program designed to provide aid to those not eligible for regular state benefits, such as gig workers. PUA claims are not adjusted for seasonal swings.
Together, first-time claims stood at 1.3 million without seasonal adjustments.
Continued jobless claims, which count workers who have applied for benefits at least two weeks in a row, fell slightly to 4.8 million.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
