Unemployment claims up first time in weeks, linked to Delta variant

(KRDO) -- For the first time in five weeks, unemployment claims across the United States are up.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, for the week ending August 21, claims were up by roughly 4,000. Totaling 353,000 claims.

This uptick in unemployment claims comes despite how the economy and job market have been recovering since the peak of the pandemic. According to 9News, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases linked to the Delta variant has clouded the economic outlook.

The rise in COVID-19 cases nationwide concerns economists as larger jobless payments from the pandemic unemployment relief come to an end at the beginning of September.

For people currently receiving PUA, PEUC, and/or FPUC benefits, those benefits will end on September 4, 2021. All programs officially end on September 6.

While some employers blame the labor shortages on the additional pandemic benefits, economists say many have stayed out of the workforce due to difficulty finding affordable child care, fear about becoming infected with COVID at work, or hopes of finding a better paying job than what they had before the pandemic.