The U.S. Department of Labor reported that 1.508 million more people applied for unemployment benefits, only a slight decrease from the previous week's 1.542 million figure. While both technically represent improvement in the pandemic-era jobs situation, it is only within the context of the even more eye-popping figures that we saw in March,  April, and May. Around this time last year, the department reported 216,000 initial claims. 

While job losses in New York were still among the highest, at 96,299, the Empire State was still outdone by California, at 243,344 and Georgia, at 130,766. It had slightly more claims than Texas, at 93,895.

Bloomberg said that this week's job figures were slightly worse than initial estimates of 1.29 million. The figures come at a time when the expanded unemployment benefits implemented under the CARES Act are soon set to run out. Congress is currently debating whether to extend benefits further: Republicans are hesitant because they believe it would inhibit people from returning to jobs, but Democrats said that, for many, there are still no jobs to return to in the first place. This week Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell indicated that he believed it was premature to scale back aid, as while the economy is on the mend in certain areas, he believes there is still a long way to go before a recovery is complete.