Another 4.4 million Americans file for unemployment, bringing pandemic total over 40 million - CBS News

workers filed for jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

workers has applied for jobless aid in the last 10 weeks.

Some 2.4 million workers applied for regular unemployment insurance in the week ending May 16, marking a slight decrease from the week before.

But nearly as many — 2.2 million — applied for aid under Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new federal program for self-employed and gig workers. .

The self-employed were not being counted in previous weekly jobless figures until last week.

The true number of jobless self-employed people is likely even higher, as not all states are currently reporting their PUA payout figures, noted economist Heidi Shierholz.

The number of first-time applications for traditional jobless aid has steadily declined each week since peaking in late March, indicating that the waves of layoffs are slowing.

While 35 states reopened last week, nine of them actually saw an increase in the number of new workers claiming unemployment benefits, he pointed out.

The expanded unemployment benefits that have allowed many people to keep supporting themselves despite being out of work run out at the end of July.