Number of Americans filing for the first time Unemployment benefits Raised in the midst of an uprising last week COVID-19 Infections and governments impose new regulations to control the spread of the virus.

According to figures released Thursday by the Department of Labor, 885,000 Americans filed unemployment claims for the first time in the week ending December 12, more than the 800,000 expected by Refinitive analysts. This is the highest level since the beginning of September, when 893,000 Americans applied for help.

12 million Americans lost unemployment benefits after Christmas

That number is almost four times the pre-crisis level, but reached nearly 7 million when orders for home stay were first issued in March. Nearly 70 million Americans, or about 40% of workers, have filed for unemployment benefits during epidemics.

The number of people receiving consecutive unemployment benefits fell to 5.508 million, down about 273,000 from the previous week.

However, some of the so-called reclaimed claims may refer to workers who used the maximum allowances available through state unemployment programs (usually about six months) and now benefit from a separate federal scheme. 13 weeks. With the passage of the CARES Act earlier this year, Congress created additional federal benefits.

Some student loan calls for debt settlement, and Facebook progress pressure to go further

But those key federal unemployment assistance programs, created in March, will expire later this year, according to a new estimate of about 12 million workers without income by December 12. Study Published by the Century Foundation, a non-profit think tank.

As job losses soar and COVID-19 cases rise across the country, state and local governments are urging the implementation of new locking measures, with economists increasingly warning of a dark winter.

“It would be very useful to have additional financial support for the economy, and in fact it would be very useful to get us through the winter,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers this week. “I think we’re progressing a lot faster than we expected. Now we have a big spike in COVID cases, and it may weigh on economic activity.”

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