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As Joe Biden took office last week, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits continues to fall, but remains at a historically high mark of 847,000. Before the virus hit the United States nearly a year ago, weekly applications for jobless claims had never surpassed 700,000.

Nearly 4.8 million Americans continue to receive state unemployment benefits, but that is down from a peak of over 24 million individuals in May were collecting unemployment benefits. Economists believe that this dip is a result of the unemployed finding new jobs and that others have exhausted state benefits.

In just under a year, the United States has lost nearly 10 million jobs. In all, 18.3 million people were getting some sort of unemployment benefit as of January 9^th, the latest period for which numbers is available. 

Data shows that spending at local businesses is down 23 percent from a year ago and that 26 percent of those businesses have been forced to close. Retail sales have also fallen for three straight months.