Breaking: U.S. Workers Filed 1.3 Million Jobless Claims Last Week as COVID Crisis Intensified

The number of initial jobless claims recorded last week stood at 1.3 million, down 10,000 from the previous week and signaling a possible stall in labor market recovery.

While initial claims have declined drastically since the coronavirus pandemic caused mass closures of businesses, the decline has leveled off in recent weeks, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. The week of July 4 saw 1,310,000 initial claims, while the week of June 27 saw 1,408,000 such claims.

Continuing unemployment claims stood nationally at about 17.3 million, or almost 12 percent unemployment. Those figures also show signs of leveling off, with 12.2 percent continuing unemployment for the week of July 4 and 12.9 percent for the week of June 27.

Coronavirus has forced mandatory closures of sites where people congregate, including restaurants, movie theaters, offices, and others.

U.S. Workers Filed 1.3 Million Jobless Claims Last Week as COVID Crisis Intensified Continuing unemployment claims stood nationally at about 17.3 million, or almost 12 percent ... READ MORE ADVERTISEMENT Follow Us & Share 19 West 44th Street, Suite 1701, New York, NY, 10036, USA Your Preferences | Unsubscribe | Privacy View this e-mail in your browser.