(AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell slightly to 787,000, evidence of a job market stumbling in the face of the viral pandemic and the damage it has inflicted on the economy for nearly 10 months. Thursday’s figure from the Labor Department, a slight decline from the previous week, showed that many employers are still cutting jobs as the pandemic tightens business restrictions and leads anxious consumers to stay home.
US Unemployment Claims Slip To Still-High 787,000
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2020 file photo, Zeida Hernandez, of Tampa, Fla., left, makes Factory Throwout cigars using an antique hand-operated cigar machine at the J.C. Newman Cigar Co., Tampa's last cigar factory, in Fla. American factories grew in December at the fastest pace in more than two years as manufacturing continued to weather the pandemic better than the battered services sector. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
