Nearly 800,000 Americans filed for unemployment in the last week of 2020

The number of Americans filing for jobless aid stayed essentially flat in the last week of 2020, as enhanced unemployment benefits kicked in for laid-off workers.

Roughly 787,000 people applied for unemployment in the week ending January 2, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's just 3,000 less than the previous week's claims, which were revised up to 790,000. Another 161,000 applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a special federal program for self-employed, freelance and gig workers.

It's the first time since March that new unemployment claims, including for self-employed workers, fell below 1 million a week when accounting for seasonal adjustments. However, part of the drop can be attributed to last week's holidays, during which state unemployment offices were closed and some Americans took time away from daily routines.