<div class="html__StyledDiv-sc-18wgwvq-0 gKMRUh block-margin-bottom"><p>The number of first-time unemployment claims has moved back above the 1 million mark amid the coronavirus pandemic.</p> <p>The U.S. Labor Department reports first-time claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.1 million claims last week.</p> <p>It was 971,000 the week before that.</p> <p>Economists hoped it would stay below that 1 million line, indicating the labor market is on a steady path to recovery.</p> <p>Continued claims declined to 14.8 million, down from 15.5 million the week before.</p> <p>The latest figures suggest that more than five months after the viral outbreak erupted the economy is still weak, despite recent gains as some businesses reopen and some sectors like housing and manufacturing have rebounded.</p> <p>Thousands of Michiganders continue to file for first-time unemployment benefits each week, but numbers are improving.</p> <p>Nearly 17,000 new unemployment claims were filed in the state last week.</p> <p>But that’s down from the previous week’s total of nearly 19,000.</p> <p>It’s the lowest Michigan unemployment claims have been since the coronavirus pandemic started.</p> <p>Michigan employers added 103,000 jobs in the month of July, down from the 266,000 jobs added in June.</p> <p>But that pushed the state’s unemployment rate to 8.7%, which is below the national average.</p> <p><!-- start AP embed --></p> <p><iframe id="datawrapper-chart-Ga1VW" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" title="US unemployment rate" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ga1VW/18/" height="285" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" aria-label="Interactive line chart"> © 2023 - 910 Media Group
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