The number of people who lose their jobs each week in the United States continues to exceed 800,000, according to data released this Thursday by the Labor Department.
Data obtained through the week ending September 26 shows that
837,000 people filled out the forms to apply for unemployment benefits
.
The government has failed to reach an agreement with the Democrats for a new economic aid package, after the one approved in March.
The end of federal aid from that package
puts at risk some 50,000 airline workers
, whose companies depend on those benefits to avoid their layoffs.
[Pelosi and Mnuchin discuss a new economic stimulus package, but cannot reach an agreement]
The weekly unemployment figure has remained above 800,000 for the fifth consecutive week, a figure that is still four times higher than the records of the same date during 2019 (215,000 weekly unemployed), or the one recorded just before the declaration of the pandemic, early March 2020 (211,000).
Graph of weekly unemployment claims in the United States Felipe Galvez, Telemundo
The marked difference reflects the havoc that the economic effects caused by the coronavirus continue to generate.
[Another $ 1,200 check and $ 600 weekly unemployment payments: this is the new relief plan in Congress]
The Labor Department report suggests that companies still continue to cut a historically high number of jobs, although weekly figures have become less reliable as states have increased their efforts to root out fraudulent claims and process previous applications that have accumulated.
California, for example, which accumulates almost a quarter of the unemployed (226,000) simply reported the same number as the previous week.
The state has said it stopped accepting benefit forms because it has a backlog of 600,000 applications.