New Economic Numbers Released

New economic data shows that the number of unemployed people in American continues to decrease.

According to The Hill:

Initial jobless claims for the last week of October fell to a seasonally adjusted 751,000, a drop of 7,000 from the previous week, but still extraordinarily high by historical standards.

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Thursday data from the Labor Department revised the number of new claims from the previous week, which had also initially been reported at 751,000, up to 758,000. Unadjusted claims fell just 543 to 738,166.

But another 363,000 Americans applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a program Congress passed in March’s CARES Act to expand unemployment benefits to gig workers and the self-employed. The program is set to expire altogether at year’s end.

“The initial unemployment number not falling as much as expected is just the tip of the iceberg, as the economy’s ability to add jobs and keep people off assistance is quickly weakening,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled that they would work to pass relief before the end of the year.