Over 800,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week

Last week, 860,000 Americans applied for unemployment insurance.

Although still a high number, last week showed 33,000 fewer claims than the week before, when the insured unemployment was 12,628,000.

Before the pandemic, weekly jobless aid in the country had never exceeded 700,000 in the US — this year, jobless aid has topped 700,000 for 26 consecutive weeks.

Currently, 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits, compared to just 1.7 million a year ago.

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According to a survey by the United States Census Bureau, 44.5% of US small businesses have experienced a moderate negative effect from the COVID19 pandemic, while 43.9% of U.S. small businesses believe more than 6 months of time will pass before their business returns to its normal level of operation.

60.5% of U.S. small businesses experienced no change in operating revenues in the last week, while 55.0% of U.S. small businesses did not furlough or lay off any paid employees after March 13, 2020.