Rising infections paralleled rising applications for aid in some states getting hit right now, and fell in states with declining infections. Applications fell in Texas, New Jersey and New York. The Labor Department’s Thursday report showed that applications for jobless aid fell by about 10,000 from the previous week. Before the pandemic, the record high for weekly unemployment applications was nearly 700,000. Those figures are adjusted for seasonal variations, a practice that is intended to filter out trends that don’t reflect on the economy, such as the firing of seasonal workers after the winter holidays.

Source: The Standard July 16, 2020 13:07 UTC