Unemployment claims rise for the first time in a month

Line outside an unemployment office. Credit: CBS News

The number of Americans applying for jobless aid rose last week, reversing several weeks of steady declines.

Roughly 861,000 people filed for first-time unemployment aid in the week ended February 13, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Another 516,000 people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a up 174,000 from the week before.

“The movement of this number is going in the wrong direction, and at 6.7 times higher than the pre-COVID era, magnitude also remains a problem,” Indeed Hiring Lab economist AnnElizabeth Konkel said in a report.

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