Nearly 1.2 million laid-off Americans applied for state unemployment benefits last week, evidence that the coronavirus keeps forcing companies to slash jobs just as a critical $600 weekly federal jobless payment has expired. The report by the U.S. Department of Labour on Thursday marked the 20th straight week that at least one million people have sought jobless aid. Before the pandemic hit hard in March, the number of Americans seeking unemployment cheques had never surpassed 700,000 in a week, not even during the recession of 2007-2009.

The new jobless claims were down by 249,000 from the previous week after rising for two straight weeks. The pandemic, the lockdowns meant to contain it and the wariness of many Americans to venture back out to eat, shop or travel have delivered a devastating blow to the economy despite the government’s emergency rescue efforts. The country’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, shrank at an annual rate of nearly 33 per cent from April through June. It was by far the worst quarterly fall on record, although the economy has rebounded somewhat since then.

All told, 16.1 million people are collecting traditional unemployment benefits from their state. For months, the unemployed had also been receiving the $600 US a week in federal jobless aid on top of their state benefit. But the federal payment expired last week. Congress is engaged in prolonged negotiations over renewing the federal benefit, which would likely be extended at a reduced level. In the meantime, millions of the unemployed suddenly have less money to pay for essentials. Many of them are among the 23 million people across the country who are at risk of being evicted from their homes, according to the Aspen Institute, as moratoriums enacted because of the coronavirus expire.