U.S. jobless claims increase to 898K as layoffs remain high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week by the most in two months, to 898,000, a historically high number and evidence that layoffs remain a hindrance to the economy’s recovery from the pandemic recession.
Thursday’s report from the Labor Department coincides with other recent data that signaled a slowdown in hiring. The economy is still roughly 10.7 million jobs short of recovering the 22 million jobs that were lost when the pandemic struck in early spring.
Confirmed coronavirus cases have been rising again nationwide in the past month, probably causing more Americans to hold back from eating out, shopping and engaging in other commerce. Cases have spiked in Wisconsin, for example, prompting renewed restrictions on business in Milwaukee and Madison.
Across the country, applications for unemployment aid are rising while negotiations over a new stimulus package between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin remain stalemated.
In Nevada, 10,886 new claims for state unemployment insurance were filed last week, up 2,945 from the week before.
The job search website Indeed said its job postings were unchanged last week, remaining about 17 percent below last year’s levels. Many employers still are not confident enough in their businesses or in their view of the economy to ramp up hiring. Job postings had rebounded steadily over the summer, but the gains have slowed in the past two months.
California, which typically accounts for about one-fourth of the nation’s jobless aid applications, has reported the same number of claims for several weeks as a placeholder. That’s because it temporarily stopped processing new applications while it implements anti-fraud technology and clears a backlog of claims.
That means jobless claims rose nationally last week even though they were unchanged in the largest state. Applications rose significantly in 17 states, including Florida, Georgia and Illinois.