WASHINGTON (AP): The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week to 898,000, a historically high number that is evidence that layoffs remain a hindrance to the economy’s recovery from the pandemic recession that erupted seven months ago.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department shows that the job market remains fragile, and it coincides with other recent data that have signaled a slowdown in hiring.

The economy is still roughly 10.7-million jobs short of recovering all the 22 million jobs that were lost when the pandemic struck in early spring.