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US Jobless Benefit Claims Drop But Overall Level Remains High

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - U.S. unemployment benefit claims fell last week, the Labor
   Department reported Thursday, even as the surging number of coronavirus
   cases threatens to restrict businesses throughout the world's biggest
   economy.

   A total of 712,000 laid-off workers filed for jobless compensation,
   down 75,000 from the revised figure of the week before. But the new
   number remained above the highest pre-pandemic figure in records that
   date to the 1960s and extends the run of high weekly claim totals that
   started in mid-March when the coronavirus swept into the United States.

   The unemployment rate is a marked improvement from the pandemic low
   point -- a 14.7% jobless rate in April. But with tens of thousands of
   new coronavirus cases being recorded every day in the U.S. for weeks
   now, state governors and municipal officials have been imposing new
   restrictions on business activity, after lifting similar curbs months
   ago, when the virus seemed to ebb.

   With new stay-at-home orders being imposed in some places with the
   worst outbreaks, the new restrictions could portend more U.S. workers
   being laid off in the coming weeks.

   Retail stores and restaurants are cutting hours if they are open, while
   entertainment and arts centers are canceling live shows. The
   approaching colder winter weather in the U.S. also means that fewer
   outdoor gatherings are possible.

   Lawmakers in Congress, stalemated for months on more coronavirus aid
   for unemployed workers, businesses and state and local governments, are
   talking again about approving more assistance beyond the $3 trillion
   they approved months ago, almost all of which has already been spent.

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