Jobless Claims Rise to 778,000

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...