WASHINGTON / CNN — The amount of claims for unemployment benefits fell across most categories in the latest report from the Labor Department. But still, the job market recovery has stalled as more than 20 million Americans struggle to make ends meet.
Another 803,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week.
That was a drop off from the week before, but still nearly four times the claims during the same period in 2019, and yet another sign that the US job recovery has run into serious trouble.
On top of that, 397,511 workers filed for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides aid to groups that aren’t usually eligible for jobless benefits, like those who are self-employed.
Added together, 1.3 million Americans filed initial jobless claims last week.
Continued claims, which count workers who have applied for benefits for at least two weeks in a row, stood at 5.3 million, slightly lower than in the prior week.