by Thomas Catenacci
The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 853,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a large increase of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Nov. 28, in which there were 712,000 new jobless claims reported. New jobless claims had stayed below 800,000 for more than a month prior to the report.
Economists expected Thursday’s jobless claims number to come in around 730,000, CNBC reported. New jobless claims fell below 1 million in the first week of August, which was the first time the weekly claims had fallen below 1 million since March.
Roughly 19 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.
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Thomas Catenacci is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Unemployment Insurance Claims Office” by Bytemarks. CC BY 2.0.
