3.3 Million Workers Remain On Jobless Benefits As Weekly Claims Tick Up To 373K

By NY Post
Posted on 07/08/21 | News Source: NY Post

More than 3.3 million Americans are still on traditional state unemployment benefits as the number of people seeking new claims ticked slightly up last week, the feds said Thursday.

Continuing claims fell by 145,000 from nearly 3.5 million the week before, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. That figure stood at more than 16 million at the same time last year, in the thick of the pandemic.

Continuing claims have fallen significantly since peaks seen in 2020, but the figure remains about twice as high as pre-pandemic levels.

The new data comes after the Labor Department reported Wednesday that US job openings climbed again in May, to more than 9.2 million nationwide.

New weekly filings for jobless claims, seen as a proxy for layoffs, reached 373,000 last week, up from the prior week’s revised level of 371,000, the feds added Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones exp