Weekly jobless claims in the United States stayed above one million for the 13th-consecutive week as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hammer at the U.S. economy.
Information released Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department revealed first-time claims totaled 1.5 million last week, higher than the 1.3 million that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting. That number was 58,000 lower than the previous week’s 1.566 million, which was revised up by 24,000.
The increased claims number persists even as all states have reopened to various extents and non-farm payrolls grew by 2.5 million in May.
As well, in addition to the standard filings there were 760,526 claims filed under the U.S. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, according to unadjusted numbers. That brought the total of those receiving benefits to 29.1 million as of May 30, which was the most recent week for which data was available.
