Texas unemployment claims tick higher.

The rate of new claims for unemployment benefits in Texas ticked up last week, data from the Labor Department shows.

About 96,000 people in Texas applied for unemployment benefits last week, a bit higher than the 89,000 reported the week prior.

The rate of new claims for unemployment insurance has been little changed over the last four weeks, tracking about six times higher than pre-coronavirus rates. Typically, about 14,000 people apply for unemployment benefits in Texas each week. In late March through early April, initial claims surpassed 300,000 per week.

Nationally, the rate of new jobless benefits claims has slowed, with 1.4 million filing for benefits last week, compared with late March and early April when claims pushed toward 7 million per week. But the still-elevated weekly claims rate — before the coronavirus outbreak, typically around 218,000 Americans filed per week — has yet to fall below 1 million.

Unemployment benefits have been extended twice in Texas since the state triggered emergency federal programs after reporting high unemployment rates in April and May. Claimants will be eligible for more than a year of state benefits while unemployment rates remain elevated.

However, the additional $600 per week provided by the federal CARES Act is slated to expire at the end of July unless extended by Congress.

Texas’ unemployment rate was 13.5 percent in April, the highest jobless rate on record, which goes back to 1976.

The Texas Workforce Commission has paid out $15.8 billion in unemployment benefits, according to agency data.

More than 3 million claims for jobless benefits have been made in Texas since the second week of March, according to the commission.