WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy picked up 1.8 million jobs in July, the Department of Labor reported on Friday. Employment collapsed in April as states locked down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, with a loss of more than 20 million jobs. Growth slowed some in July compared to May and June, when U.S. businesses added about 5 million and 3 million jobs, respectively.

WASHINGTON—Thursday’s report from the U.S. Department of Labor showed almost 1.2 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week. Although that number represents a 15 percent drop from the week before and the lowest since the beginning of coronavirus-related lockdowns, it marks the 20th straight week more than a million Americans have applied for unemployment. During the Great Recession in the early 2000s, weekly jobless claims never topped 700,000.

Boeing will cut 12,000 U.S. jobs in the coming weeks, executives announced on Wednesday. Most of the layoffs are in the Seattle area, where the company produces commercial airliners. The cuts highlight the effects coronavirus-related shutdowns have on the economy, including air travel decreasing by 96 percent as of mid-April. Roughly 2.1 million additional workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, according to a U.S.

State governments received 2.4 million new applications for unemployment benefits last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday. On top of those claims, an additional 2.2 million people applied for aid through a new federal program that extends unemployment benefits to self-employed, contract, and gig workers.

The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent in April, the highest it has been since the Great Depression. Last month saw 20.5 million jobs lost, the worst on record, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released on Friday. The unemployment rate does not count people who lost their jobs in April but didn’t look for new work, the report noted.

Another 3.84 million Americans filed for unemployment last week. But the pace of weekly jobless claims has slowed since its record high of 6.86 million in mid-March. As state orders caused businesses to shutter and decrease staff to slow the spread of the coronavirus, millions have rushed to file for benefits.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer implemented some of the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the nation this week. The Democrat barred people from crossing the street to visit neighbors and closed landscaping businesses. Thousands of people swarmed Lansing, Mich., the state capital, to protest the new coronavirus rules on Wednesday.