Another 847,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the week that Joe Biden became president—slightly down from the 914,000 claims in the week before. Continuing employment claims also saw a decrease for the week, falling by 203,000 to 4.8 million, which is a new low for the entire pandemic. Biden inherited the worst-performing jobs market of any new president in modern U.S. history. Before the pandemic took hold in March, the highest number of new unemployment claims ever filed in a week stood at 695,000, but it’s yet to fall below that figure during the pandemic-era. This month, as some state and local governments have reintroduced restrictions, hotels, bars, and restaurants have been hit particularly hard, losing 498,000 workers in January.
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