Continuing unemployment claims dropped by roughly another 200,000 at the very end of July — much less than the drop the previous week — but the latest week showed new claims rising somewhat.
The Labor Department said in its weekly release, “The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending August 1 was 28,059,349, a decrease of 197,601 from the previous week.” This is the figure which has not been “seasonally adjusted". But the new claims filed in the week ended Aug. 15 were 891,510, an increase of 52,776 (or 6.3%) from the previous week.
