Jobless claims rise to 745K in final week of February

New applications for unemployment benefits rose to 745,000 in the final full week of February, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

In the week ending Feb. 26, the number of weekly jobless claims increased by 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 736,000. The Labor Department initially reported 730,000 claims in the prior week, though those figures were likely skewed by dangerous winter storms and several instances of fraud.

Another 436,696 Americans applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program created to expand jobless aid to gig workers, contractors and others who do not qualify for traditional unemployment insurance.

The data comes as the U.S. nears the end of the first year of the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and measures needed to limit its spread. Weekly jobless claims skyrocketed during the end of March 2020, reaching a record 3.3 million peak as the U.S. lost more than 21 millions jobs to the onset of the pandemic.

While the economy has improved considerably since then, more than 10 million jobs have yet to be replaced, more than 18 million people remain on some form of unemployment aid and the number of weekly jobless claims remains three times higher than its pre-coronavirus level. 

President Biden and congressional Democrats are racing to approve a $1.9 trillion economic relief bill before expanded unemployment benefits expire on March 14. A brief lapse in benefits may be unavoidable given the time it takes for states to update individual systems, but the impact could be buffeted by the disbursement of another round of direct payments to households.

Updated at 8:54 a.m.