Another 1.1 million U.S. workers file new unemployment claims

Aug. 20 (UPI) — The number of U.S. workers filing new unemployment claims has again climbed above the 1 million mark, the Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday.

The report listed 1.1 million new claims for the week ending Aug. 15, an increase of 135,000 from the previous week. It listed the unemployment rate at 10.2%, a decrease of 0.4%.

Thursday’s report also revised up last week’s claims by 8,000.

Most economists expected about 900,000 new claims.

The department said there are 14.8 million continuing claims, which lag initial claims by a week.

Thursday’s figure ended two weeks of declining claims that followed a surge in COVID-19 cases last month. Last week, new claims totaled fewer than 1 million for the first time since March.

The number of new claims is still relatively low for the COVID-19 era, but still well above the pre-pandemic increase record of 665,000 set in 2009 during the financial crisis.

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