Another 375,000 Workers Filed For Unemployment Last Week

The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment statistics on Thursday. It showed that an additional 375,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on August 7th. This is still about 150,00 more than would file in a healthy economy. Things are not going to return to normal until we have the virus under control, and that will take a significantly higher number of vaccinated people.

Here is the official Labor Department statement:

In the week ending August 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 375,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 385,000 to 387,000. The 4-week moving average was 396,250, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 394,000 to 394,500.