In a notice released yesterday morning, the Department of Labor Employment and Training Division reported that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits jumped again last week to 885,000, the highest weekly total since September. Claims were 23,000 higher than the previous week’s figures and come as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country. And, as COVID infections increase economists explain, more states are again imposing more rigid restrictions on businesses thereby reducing available employment opportunities, pushing the economic recovery in the wrong direction and furthering the downward spiral.