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US Unemployment Benefit Claims Edge Lower but Remain Historically High

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - Another 787,000 U.S. workers filed for unemployment
   compensation last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday, as
   the national government starts to make $300-a-week extra payments to
   the jobless on top of less generous state benefits.

   The newest weekly claims total was basically unchanged, down 3,000 from
   Christmas week in late December, even as the coronavirus crisis
   continues to stress the American labor market 10 months after the
   pandemic swept into the country.

   The latest weekly total is consistent with the number of claims over
   recent months. The weekly figures are well below the 6.9 million record
   number of claims filed late last March as the pandemic took hold in the
   U.S. but remain above the highest pre-pandemic level in records going
   back to the 1960s.

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