America slowly goes back to work: 2.1 Million applied for unemployment last week

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits was 2.1 million last week, the lowest number since the coronavirus crisis began. The number of continuing jobless claims fell by 3.86 million.

Numbers indicate many Americans are going back to work.

In 33 states, 7.8 million people are receiving benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and about 222,000 have claims for the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program in 22 states.

The Economic Policy Institute notes that 19.1 million workers were on continued claims as of May 16, and 4.1 million more have filed initial state unemployment claims since then.