U.S. Unemployment Numbers Declined to 837,000 in The Last Week

UPDATE: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week to a still-high 837,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer.

The Labor Department’s report, released Thursday, suggests that companies are still cutting a historically high number of jobs, though the weekly numbers have become less reliable as states have increased their efforts to root out fraudulent claims and process earlier applications that have piled up.

For example, California, which accounts for more than one-quarter of aid applications, simply provided the same figure it submitted the previous week.

The state had said it would stop accepting jobless claims online so it could tackle a backlog of 600,000 claims.

ORIGINAL STORY: The government will provide its latest picture Thursday of the pace of layoffs in the United States, which have remained high as some sectors of the economy have rebounded since the viral pandemic erupted in March while others remain depressed.

The elevated number of people seeking unemployment benefits each week reflects an economy that has recovered only about half the 22 million jobs that were lost to the pandemic.

Many employers, especially small retailers, hotels, restaurants, airlines and entertainment venues, are struggling.

And millions of Americans are facing unemployment with vastly diminished aid since the expiration of a $600-a-week federal benefit this summer.