Signs are displayed outside the Washington, D.C. Department of Employment Services. New claims for unemployment benefits around the country rose for the first time in four months.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Signs are displayed outside the Washington, D.C. Department of Employment Services. New claims for unemployment benefits around the country rose for the first time in four months.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

New claims for unemployment benefits rose to 1.4 million last week — the first increase since March.

It’s a sign that the labor market is deteriorating as businesses around the country close their doors again in response to an intensified coronavirus pandemic. And Congress is debating an extension of $600 in federal unemployment insurance related to the pandemic, which expires in days.

The 109,000 increase in first-time regular claims came even as continued claims dropped by 1.1 million, to 16.2 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

But claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which helps people who are self-employed or who don’t qualify for regular unemployment compensation, rose nearly 20,000 to about 975,000.