Almost two million Americans are collecting unemployment in the highest figures since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of Americans who have been continuously receiving unemployment benefits rose by 38,000 to 1.97 million in late July, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
This unemployment number hasn’t been this high since November 2021.
The number of new unemployment claims for the week ending August 2 climbed by 7,000 to 226,000. It’s slightly above the 219,000 new claims economists had predicted, but it remains in the healthy range.
The new unemployment numbers come after last Friday’s grim July jobs report sent financial markets spiraling downward, spurring President Donald Trump to fire the head of the agency that tallies the monthly jobs numbers.
The jobs report showed the economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, falling short of the 115,000 experts predicted.
Revisions of previous data also shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.2 percent as Americans dropped out of the labor force and the ranks of the unemployed rose by 221,000.
Trump blamed Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the dismal hiring numbers.
“We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” he posted on social media. “I have directed my Team to fire this [former President Joe] Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
While Trump blamed fake numbers for the bleak jobs report, economists had warned Trump’s sweeping global tariffs would burden U.S. businesses and individual Americans.
Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor, explained how slower hiring and the unemployment numbers are intertwined.
“We shouldn’t ignore the impact of slower hiring,” Zhao told The Washington Post. “It means that it’s hard for unemployed people to get back into the workforce, but it also means that those unemployed workers might have to settle for a worse job, or people who are currently employed aren’t able to climb the career ladder.”
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