Millions of Americans are waiting months to get unemployment checks. Some have been sidelined since March.

Food bank delivers meals to those who need them.
(Image credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Unprecedented unemployment has overwhelmed America's jobless benefits system just as millions of Americans need it most.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the worst run of unemployment the U.S. has ever seen, with tens of millions of people filing for jobless benefits at the height of the crisis last spring. But even as job numbers slowly begin to recover, at least 1.2 million Americans are still waiting to receive their first checks, The Washington Post reports.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.