The number of Americans applying for state unemployment benefits remained historically high last week, indicating the pace of layoffs is still elevated even as the economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest jobless claims figures from the Labor Department, which cover the week ending Oct. 2, show that 840,000 workers sought aid last week, about four-times the pre-crisis level. More than 63 million Americans have sought jobless aid since the coronavirus lockdowns began in mid-March.

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Economists surveyed by Refinitiv expected 820,000 new claims. Last week's figure was revised upward by 12,000 to 849,000.

The number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell to 10.97 million, a decline of more than 1 million from the previous week.

But there's a caveat to the data: California paused processing initial claims for two weeks in an effort to clear a backlog and adopt fraud-prevention technology, the Labor Department said. This week’s report reflects the level during the last week before the pause and will be adjusted accordingly at a later date. Read more at FOX Business