Unemployment filings remain twice as high as the worst of the Great Recession

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits is still significantly higher than during any week in the Great Recession.

The Labor Department on Thursday said that 1.3 million Americans filed first-time jobless claim last week, although the unadjusted number was 1.5 million, CNN reports. Additionally, the Labor Department reported more than 920,000 Americans filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in 47 states.

Factoring in the PUA filings, Economic Policy Institute's Heidi Shierholz notes this was the 17th consecutive week that more than twice as many Americans have filed for unemployment insurance as did during the Great Recession's worst week. Shierholz argues that the 1.3 million claims figure is misleading in part because it ignores the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claims.

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According to Newsweek, during the Great Recession, the most jobless claims filed in one week was 665,000 in March 2009. Additionally, the record for most unemployment claims for any week prior to the coronavirus pandemic was 695,000 in 1982. Over the course of the past 17 weeks, CNN notes, more than 50 million Americans have filed for unemployment.