Another 709,000 Americans filed for unemployment claims last week

America’s jobs recovery is slowing down. While many have been able to return to work, millions remain unemployed.

Another 709,000 Americans filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

On top of that, another 298,154 workers filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program sanctioned under the CARES Act to provide benefits to those ineligible for regular state aid, such as the self-employed.

Together, first-time claims stood at 1 million last week, not adjusted for seasonal fluctuations.

Continued jobless claims, which count people who have filed for benefits for at least two weeks in a row, stood at 6.8 million.

The falling number of continued claims is a red flag for economists, because it might be going down for the wrong reason. States only provide jobless benefits for a limited period of time, commonly 26 weeks. After that, people roll into other programs, such as the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, specifically designed for the coronavirus crisis.

This is a developing story. It will be updated