870,000 New Unemployment Claims Filed in U.S. Last Week, a Slight Increase From Week Before

September 24, 2020

America's unemployment crisis continues, with CNN reporting that another 870,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last week. That's a slight increase from the 860,000 new claims filed the week before, but doesn't include the 630,080 Americans who filed for the first time last week for PUA benefits, which are available to contractors, freelancers and other gig workers. CNN says that together, nearly 1.5 million people applied for government benefits last week. "The jobless claims data paint a picture of a labor market recovery that's struggling to maintain momentum," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. The somewhat-good news is that continued jobless claims, representing workers who have filed for benefits for at least two consecutive weeks, stood at 12.6 million on a seasonally adjusted basis, down a bit from the prior week.