900,000 file for jobless claims

Another 900,000 people filed new unemployment claims last week, former president Donald Trump’s last in office, The Washington Post reports.

An additional 423,000 people in 47 states filed new claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program created to help gig and selfemployed workers.

All told, nearly 16 million people were claiming benefits as of Jan. 2, the last week available for that measurement.

The number of new unemployment claims filed each week has remained above the pre-pandemic record of 695,000 since coronavirus cases starting rising last March. And jobless claims have risen in recent weeks.

Economists have cautioned about reading too deeply into the weekly fluctuations of the statistic, noting that issues with data processing and duplicate claims have at times inflated the numbers.

Biden inherits one of the worst job markets of any president, with the country’s unemployment rate at 6.7% and nearly 10 million fewer people with jobs than at the beginning of last year, as the pandemic has wreaked havoc on industries such as tourism, hospitality and food service.

Biden is calling for a $1.9 trillion stimulus measure that would extend unemployment payments, give everyone a $1,400 check, and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to small businesses as well as state and local governments that are struggling.