Another 870,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week

America’s recovery from the pandemic continues to slow. That was visible again in the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report Thursday.

Another 870,000 workers filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis. That was up very slightly from the previous week.

Six months into this crisis, weekly claims are about four times higher than they were before businesses went into lockdown in March.

Continued jobless claims — counting workers who have filed for benefits for at least two consecutive weeks — stood at 12.6 million on a seasonally adjusted basis, down a bit from the prior week.

But Americans also filed for benefits under the government’s other programs, such as the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which Congress created in the wake of the crisis to help those not eligible for regular jobless benefits, including the self-employed.

Another 630,080 Americans filed for PUA benefits last week.

This is a developing story. It will be updated