For 17th Straight Week More Than 1M Americans Seek Job Aid

For 17th Straight Week More Than 1M Americans Seek Job Aid
Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims in Frankfort, Ky., on June 19, 2020 John Sommers II/Getty Images
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WASHINGTON—More than a million Americans sought unemployment benefits for the 17th consecutive week as infections began surging in some of the nation’s most populous states. Layoffs in places like Florida, Georgia, and California rose by tens of thousands of people.

Hope early this month that the country had made it through the worst of the pandemic has been shaken, and the rising number of infected Americans threatens to push what appeared to be a recovering nation into critical condition.