The Labor Department said in its weekly assessment Thursday that 1.3 million more American workers have filed for unemployment benefits. The report said jobless claims increased by precisely 1,300,000 by the end of last week, a decrease of 10,000 claims. The department said the unemployment rate was 11.9% Thursday's report also revised down last week's report by 4,000 claims. Most analysts had expected 1.25 million new claims. Thursday marked the 15th consecutive week initial claims declined. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 50 million U.S. workers have filed for unemployment although many have since returned to jobs. Thursday's report said continuing claims, which lag initial claims by one week, were at 17.3 million.