93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
The Missouri Department of Labor reports another 17,165 state initial unemployment claims in the week ending June 20. That is down from the 18,679 claims the week before, but is still historically high.
The state reports 667,306 initial unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic started hitting the economy hard in mid-March.
More from The Associated Press:
The number of laid-off workers who applied for unemployment benefits fell to 1.48 million last week, the 12th straight drop and a sign that layoffs are slowing but are still at a painfully high level. The steady decline in claims suggests that the job market has begun to heal from the pandemic, which shuttered businesses and sent the unemployment rate up to 14.7% in April, its highest level since the Great Depression. Yet the latest figure also coincides with a sudden resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the United States, especially in the South and West, that’s threatening to derail a nascent economic rebound.
