New jobless claims decline but stay above 1 million


The number of new jobless claims in the United States has surpassed one million for yet another week.
The Labor Department on Thursday said that just over one million more Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, down from about 1.1 million the week prior, CNBC reports. Continuing claims declined to 14.5 million. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the most jobless claims filed in a week on record was 695,000.
This came after last week, the number of new jobless claims unexpectedly rose above one million after previously dipping below that threshold, leading to concerns among experts that the numbers were "trending in the wrong direction." Though the number declined this week, this is the 22nd time in 23 weeks that there were more than one million jobless claims, CNBC notes, and The Washington Post's Heather Long wrote that this latest report shows that there are still "an alarming number of people" out of work.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"We're chipping away at the losses in terms of the number of jobs and some of the weaknesses there," Wells Fargo Securities economist Sarah House told The Wall Street Journal, "but there's still a long ways to go." Indeed economist AnnElizabeth Konkel also told the Journal, "It's massively concerning that five months into this crisis we are still seeing those levels. It's just really pointing to how much economic pain there is right now, and I don't really expect that to change anytime soon."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Peter Mandelson called Epstein his 'best pal' in birthday note
Speed Read The UK's ambassador to Washington described the late convicted paedophile as an 'intelligent, sharp-witted man'
-
A Spinal Tap reunion, Thomas Pynchon by way of Paul Thomas Anderson and a harrowing Stephen King adaptation in September movies
the week recommends This month's new releases include 'Spinal Tap II,' 'One Battle After Another' and 'The Long Walk'
-
'Vampire energy' could be causing your electric bill to rise
Under the Radar Wasted energy could account for up to 10% of home use
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year