Another 840,000 American workers filed for state unemployment benefits for the week ended Oct. 3, a moderate drop of 9,000 from the week before and a historically elevated number that suggests a grinding labor market recovery.
The Labor Department’s jobless claims report, released Oct. 8 (pdf), also revised up by 12,000 the number of people who filed initial jobless claims the week prior, to 849,000. The number of last week’s filings remains well above the 2007-08 Great Recession peak of 665,000 weekly filings, reinforcing the view that the labor market will take time to rebound from the recessionary lows sparked by the outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
