Jobless claims increase for second consecutive week as COVID-19 cases skyrocket across country

The number of new applications for unemployment benefits last week increased 30,000 from last week’s claims to 778,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, in a troubling sign for the recovery.

Wednesday’s report marks the second consecutive week that unemployment claims increased.

Altogether, roughly 1 million workers filed for benefits last week, when including claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new category of eligibility created for workers sidelined by the pandemic, such as gig workers whose work dried up.

“New claims for unemployment benefits are moving up, moving in the wrong direction much the same as the pandemic is raging here in the final weeks of a heartbreakingly difficult year,” said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com's senior economic analyst.

The increase in claims comes as coronavirus infections skyrocket across the country. The nation went from fewer than 50,000 new coronavirus cases each day in early October to well over 150,000 new daily cases in late November, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The spike in virus cases has prompted a number of states to limit or prohibit visits to restaurants and bars.

Seating capacity has been restricted in states such as Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Maine, and Maryland.

Restaurants in Michigan can only provide carryout service.