1.3M jobless claims last week as number remains above 1M for 17th straight week

The number of new jobless claims last week was 1.3 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday, which marks the 17th straight week that claims have exceeded 1 million.

Economists projected that 1.25 million jobs were lost last week.

On average, over the past four weeks more than 1.3 million jobless claims have been filed each week, according to the Labor report.

The total number of people claiming benefits for all jobless programs for the week ending June 27 was over 32 million. Compared to the same week last year, there were 1.6 million claims. These figures are not seasonally adjusted.

During the week ending July 11, less than one million people claimed the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a category of benefits for people sidelined by the pandemic who would not normally be eligible for unemployment insurance.

This benefit is scheduled to expire at the end of the month. Democrats in Congress want to extend it, but Senate Republicans oppose the idea. It will likely expire as lawmakers in both chambers debate what to include in the next relief package.

The Labor Department report shows that while jobless claims have dropped from their all-time high of 6.9 million for the week ending March 28, they have plateaued to be between 1 million and 2 million for the past seven weeks. That could change.

The leveling-off of jobless claims comes as coronavirus infections have spiked in several areas of the country as the number of cases in the United States hit 3.5 million on Wednesday. The number of deaths from the disease has surpassed 130,000.