Unemployment Benefits: 730,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week
RSM chief economist Joe Prosolas said the declines in Ohio and Texas were “due to a severe freeze that has stabilized across the country,” although that did not explain the larger drop in temperatures in California.
“Whatever the case, there are always holiday and weather distortions this time of year in the unemployment claims data, so investors should expect oysters to rise over the next two weeks,” he said.
Moreover, 451,402 people ineligible for regular government claims, such as self-employed or temporary workers, have filed for epidemic unemployment assistance. This number is not seasonally adjusted.
Combined, claims for the first time reached 1.2 million without seasonal adjustments last week.
“For several months, there has been no material improvement in the total volume of initial claims,” said Anne Elizabeth Konkell, economist at Indeed’s recruitment lab. Despite changes in trend claims, the total number of initial orders is still nearly six times higher than the same period last year.
Continuing jobless claims reached 4.4 million in the week ending February 13th, down slightly from the previous week.
In the week ending February 6, more than 19 million Americans received benefits under various government programs. The number of workers receiving aid through the epidemic emergency unemployment compensation program, which provides extra weeks of payments after workers exhaust their regular government benefits, has risen by more than 1 million to reach 5.1 million.
“We hope that next spring’s weather and continued vaccinations will be an economic boost,” Konkell said.
For countries, long-term unemployment for many people is an increasing financial burden. As of Tuesday, about 19 states have borrowed more than $ 50 billion from the federal government to pay interest, according to the U.S. Treasury.
California borrowed $ 19.5 billion, while New York borrowed just under $ 10 billion. Texas has borrowed about $ 6.5 billion.
Tami Luhby contributed to this story.