Other 1.3 million According to the Labor Department, people filed unemployment claims for the first time on a seasonally-adjusted basis for the week ending July 11. That’s 10,000 below the revised level of the previous week.
On an unadjusted basis, over 1.5 Millions of people filed claims the first time, almost 109,000 more than the week before. Seasonal adjustments are traditionally used to smooth the data, but that has tended to have the opposite effect during the pandemic.
Ongoing claims, which count workers who have filed claims for at least two weeks in a row, totaled more than 17.3 million during the week ending July 4, 422,000 fewer than the week before. These claims peaked in May at nearly 25 million.
Additionally, about 928.5 billion people in 47 states applied for assistance for the first time for an unemployment pandemic last week, nearly 118,000 fewer than the week before. And nearly 14.3 million people claimed continued pandemic benefits in 48 states for the week ending June 27. That represents almost 406,000 from the previous week.
The pandemic program was created by Congress in March to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Provides temporary benefits to workers who are generally not eligible for payments, including freelancers, independent contractors, freelancers, and certain individuals affected by the coronavirus. It expires at the end of the year.
Looking at all the workers who participate in a variety of unemployment programs, just over 32 million Americans claimed unemployment benefits the week ending June 27, about 433,000 fewer than the week before.
That total includes those in traditional and pandemic unemployment programs, as well as in the emergency pandemic emergency compensation program, which has nearly 936,500 filers. Lawmakers created it in March to provide those who have exhausted their benefits with an additional 13 weeks of payments. It also expires in late 2020.
Federal spending on benefits skyrockets
The federal government disbursed more than $ 80 billion in June to pay for Congress’ historic upgrade to the nation’s unemployment program, bringing the total spent to nearly $ 171.5 billion this fiscal year, Treasury Department data shows.
Meanwhile, states delivered more than $ 35 billion in benefits last month, compared to approximately $ 4 billion in March. So far, they have spent more than $ 102 billion this fiscal year, according to the Treasury Department.
In total, government spending on unemployment benefits has skyrocketed to nearly $ 324 billion this fiscal year, as of July 14, with nearly $ 50 billion spent this month alone.
The taxpayer agglomeration has affected states, draining their unemployment trust funds. Eight states have had to borrow a total of nearly $ 13 billion from the federal government to pay their share of unemployment benefits, which generally last 26 weeks. The unemployed are guaranteed to receive their benefits, regardless of whether states have to borrow to pay them.
California had to borrow even more money from the Treasury Department this month after underestimating how much it would need. The Golden State is now authorized to borrow $ 7 billion this month, up from $ 4 billion.
More states are likely to turn to the federal government for loans in the coming months, said Wayne Vroman, an associate at the Urban Institute. While businesses have brought in millions of workers, the unemployment rate in June was 11.1%, the highest since World War II.
“The number of states that will borrow will continue to increase,” said Vroman.
CNN Business’s Anneken Tappe contributed to this report.
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