The U.S. Department of Labor today reported that 738,166 Americans filed for state unemployment last week, a number nearly unchanged from the week before. Another 363,000 new claims were filed through the government's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides benefits to part-time workers, freelancers, the self-employed and other non-traditional workers. While those numbers aren't nearly as high as when the pandemic first struck this spring, experts say the economic stress is exacerbated by the government's inability to pass a new federal aid package. Currently, 21.5 million people are receiving some sort of federal benefit.

This week's report comes as the U.S. is still unsure about the outcome of the presidential election and the country reported more than 107,000 new Covid-19 cases on Nov. 4. According to The New York Times, the country has reported an average of 91,878 cases per day, which is a more than 50 percent increase from the average two weeks earlier.