Jobless claims spiked in the U.S. last week, with 853,000 people seeking new benefits

The number of claims leapt over 800,000 for the first time since the week ending Oct. 10, when they came in at 842,000.

A large spike in coronavirus cases in the United States, particularly since October, has rattled large parts of the economy. There are now more than 1 million new cases of coronavirus each week in the United States, and the country shattered a record on Wednesday with more than 3,000 deaths from the disease. Hospitals in many parts of the country are overwhelmed and some state and local jurisdictions are imposing fresh restrictions to try and curb the spike.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to reach a deal on a new relief package but those talks have so far failed to produce a consensus plan.

The new burst of jobless claims was slightly larger than the last two big jumps, for that October week, when they rose about 75,000 and in early August, when claims rose 133,000, making it the largest jump in claims since millions began flooding the system at the pandemic's outset in March.

An additional 427,600 claims were filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program for gig and self-employed workers, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor.

Economists have been warning for months about coming damage to the economy if Congress failed to authorize another stimulus package to help prop up struggling businesses and households. The labor market has in general fared better than the most dire projections during the pandemic's early months, but has been flashing warning signs for weeks.

The 245,000 jobs added in November were the lowest number added since the recovery began in May, and a sign that December's report could go into the negative. The number of unemployment claims is another concerning data point.

The number of people claiming benefits in all the programs was just over 19 million, although officials have warned that tally may be inflated due to data processing issues compounded by the United States' patchwork unemployment system.