For the first time since March, the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits has increased from week-to-week.
The Labor Department released Thursday that 1.4 million americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, an increase from 1.3 million the previous week.
In total, 32 million people are recieving unemployment benefits, according to the Labor Department.
An additional 975,000 workers filed for the first time under another program that allows for self-employed workers who are eligible for the first time.
The number comes out just a couple of days before the expirtation date for weekly federal aid payments. Unless there is an extension, workers receiving a $600 weekly federal aid payment will see it expire on July 25th.
The highest weekly rate during the pandemic remains at 6.9 million on March 28th. Before the pandemic, the number of weekly applications never exceeded 700,000.
