Another 1.4 million American workers have filed for new unemployment benefits, the Labor Department said Thursday in its weekly report.

The department said 1,416,000 workers filed new claims by the end of last week, an increase of 109,000 from the previous week. The report put the unemployment rate at 11.1%. It also revised up last week’s report by 7,000 claims.

Most analysts had expected between 1.2 million and 1.5 million new claims.

Thursday’s figure marked the 15th consecutive week of declines since a peak of more than 13 million new claims filed during a two-week period in April. It also represents the 17th straight week of at least 1 million new claims.

Thursday’s report cited 16.2 million continuing claims, which lag initial claims by a week.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans and the Trump administration say they have reached a broad consensus on the next COVID-19 relief bill, including a new round of direct stimulus checks to Americans.

Whether or how to extend enhanced unemployment benefits of an additional $600 a week, which expire next week, has not been decided.

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