New York (CNN Business) America's jobless crisis is far from over. Thursday's Department of Labor report hammered that point home: Another 1.4 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, marking the first increase in initial claims in 16 weeks. The weekly first-time claims peaked at 6.9 million in the last week of March and fell continuously until last week, when the trend reversed. Stripping out seasonal adjustments, the number of initial claims is slightly lower than the adjusted figure, but it still rounds up to 1.4 million. During normal times, the seasonal adjustments help smooth the data, but during the pandemic it has been less helpful.

Source: CNN July 23, 2020 12:33 UTC