3.5 million Americans are still collecting unemployment benefits as number of workers filing new jobless aid claims rises to 412K in a week

• The Labor Department said on Thursday that the number of Americans receiving continued unemployment benefits rose slightly by 1,000 to just over 3.5 million 
• That figure was at about 19 million around this time last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the economy to largely shutdown 
• New weekly applications for unemployment rose 37,000 to 412,000 last week
• Weekly applications for unemployment aid had dropped for six straight weeks and economists had expected another dip last week 

More than 3.5 million Americans are still collecting traditional state unemployment benefits as the number of people seeking new jobless aid claims rose last week for the first time in two months. 

The Labor Department said on Thursday that the number of Americans receiving continued unemployment benefits rose slightly by 1,000 to just over 3.5 million for the week ending June 5.

That figure was at about 19 million around this time last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the economy to largely shutdown. 

The government said 14.8 million people were receiving some type of jobless aid - including supplemental federal jobless benefits and regular state unemployment aid -  during the week of May 29, which is down from 30.2 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, new weekly applications for unemployment aid rose 37,000 to 412,000 last week despite widespread evidence that the economy and the job market are rebounding steadily from the pandemic recession.

As the job market has strengthened, the number of weekly applications for unemployment aid has fallen for most of the year. 

The number of jobless claims generally reflects the pace of layoffs.

Weekly applications for unemployment aid had dropped for six straight weeks and economists had expected another dip last week. 

Still, the government's report showed the the four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 8,000 last week to 395,000 - the lowest four-week average since the pandemic slammed the economy in March 2020.

AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said the slight rise in weekly jobless claims shouldn't be cause for concern just yet.

'The big picture is that while we are not back to a 'normal' level yet of initial claims, they are no longer astronomically high,' she said. 

A year ago, nearly 1.5 million people had applied for unemployment benefits in one week.

With vaccinations up and more consumers venturing out to spend - on restaurant meals, airline fares, movie tickets and store purchases - the economy is rapidly recovering from the recession. 

All that renewed spending has fueled customer demand and led many companies to seek new workers, often at higher wages, and avoid layoffs.

In fact, the speed of the rebound from the recession has caught many businesses off guard and touched off a scramble to hire. 

In May, employers added a less-than-expected 559,000 jobs, evidence that many companies are struggling to find enough workers as the economy recovers faster than expected.

But many economists expect hiring to catch up with demand in the coming months, especially as federal unemployment aid programs end and more people pursue jobs. They note that the economy still has 7.6 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic struck.

And employers are posting job openings faster than applicants can fill them. In April, they advertised a record 9.3 million job openings, up a sharp 12 percent from the number in March.

The rapid rollout of vaccines has brought the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases down to an average of just over 12,000, from around 250,000 a day in early January.

Though jobless claims have tumbled since the start of 2021, when they exceeded 900,000, they remain high by historical standards. 

Before the pandemic paralyzed the economy in March 2020, unemployment applications were running at about 220,000 a week.