WASHINGTON — The number of laid-off workers seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dipped only slightly last week, and the economy shrank in the first three months of the year — evidence of the ongoing economic damage being inflicted by the viral pandemic.
The economy, which contracted 5% in the January-March quarter, is widely expected to shrink at a roughly 30% annual rate in the current April-June quarter. That would be the worst quarterly contraction, by far, since record-keeping began in 1948.
The government reported Thursday that the number of laid-off workers who applied for unemployment benefits declined slightly to 1.48 million last week. It was the 12th straight drop. Still, applications for jobless aid have declined just 5% in the past two weeks, a much slower rate of improvement than in April and May.
What’s more, an additional 700,000 people applied for jobless benefits last week under a new program for self-employed and gig workers that made them eligible for aid for the first time. These figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations, so the government doesn’t include them in the official count.