#US workers file over 1 million jobless claims for 20th straight week

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits topped 1 million for the twentieth straight week — bringing the total number of initial jobless claims filed during the coronavirus pandemic to more than 55 million.

An additional 1.186 million people filed for unemployment last week, according to the US Department of Labor.

Jobless claims were down 249,000 from the week prior, but at a total of 55.3 million, the number of Americans who have filed for unemployment claims during the course of the pandemic is greater than the populations of New York and Texas combined — and has long since surpassed the 37 million jobs lost over the 18 months during the Great Recession.

Continuing claims, which measure sustained joblessness on a one-week lag, was down to about 16 million in the week ending July 25, the US Department of Labor said.

The numbers arrive a week after the US economy suffered its worst blow since the Great Depression, with the Commerce Department reporting that the nation’s gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced here — shrunk 9.5 percent from the first quarter.

The plunge is unmatched in historical data from the National Bureau of Economic Research going back to 1875.

The most recent period that came anywhere close was a roughly 7.2 percent contraction in the last quarter of 1937, in the late stages of the Great Depression.