Weekly jobless claims fall 29K to new post-lockdown low

New applications for jobless aid fell by 29,000 last week and hit a post-lockdown low, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

In the week ending Aug. 14, initial weekly jobless claims dropped to 348,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 377,000. Claims have fallen to their lowest level since March 14, 2020, when 256,000 people applied for jobless aid shortly before the start of COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing.

Another 109,379 people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which expands aid to gig workers and contractors and is set to expire on Sept. 7, along with a suite of other COVID-19 jobless aid programs. Total initial claims for PUA rose by roughly 5,500 last week.

Twenty-six states have already pulled out of expanded pandemic unemployment aid, and another 7.5 million recipients are slated to lose all of their jobless benefits when those programs end on Labor Day.

President Biden expressed confidence in July that the U.S. would be able to handle the benefit cliff, saying it “makes sense” to let the programs lapse with record-setting job openings. But the White House softened its position earlier this month as the delta variant of the novel coronavirus surged, telling reporters Biden had not yet made up his mind.

Even if the president does back an extension, it may be impossible to get a bill to do so on his desk.

Republican lawmakers have called on Biden for months to end the expanded jobless aid programs, and some moderate Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have ruled out supporting an extension.