Unemployment Benefits During the Pandemic
American Bankruptcy Institute on 1/28/21 reports that: Almost 70 million Americans, or about 40% of the labor force, have filed for unemployment benefits during the pandemic. The number of Americans filing for state unemployment benefits edged lower but remained elevated last week, as the labor market struggles to recover from a surge in COVID-19 infections nationwide amid new restrictions to help curb the spread of the virus, FoxBusiness.com reported. Figures released today by the Labor Department showed that 847,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims in the week ended Jan. 23, slightly lower than the 875,000 forecast by Refinitiv economists. The number is nearly four times the pre-crisis level but is well below the peak of almost 7 million that was reached when stay-at-home orders were first issued in March. The number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell to 4.77 million, a decline of about 203,000 from the previous week. The report shows that roughly 18.28 million Americans were receiving some kind of jobless benefit through Jan. 9, an increase of 2.29 million from the previous week [1/28/21 American Bankruptcy Institute e-newsletter]