The US$3.007 trillion year-to-date deficit was nearly triple the US$1.067 trillion deficit for the comparable year-ago period, spurred by a massive increase in government spending to battle the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, in July soared to 6.6 million, nearly back to their pre-crisis level, a U.S. Labor Department report showed this week.

The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the government this year will run the largest budget deficit, as a share of the economy, since 1945, when World War II ended.

The figure released Wednesday is more than triple the 2019 shortfall and more than double the levels experienced after the market meltdown and Great Recession of 2008-09.

The figures suggest that employers are still slashing jobs even as some businesses reopen and some sectors like housing and manufacturing have rebounded.

With confirmed viral cases still elevated in much of the nation and businesses under continued pressure, many employers appear reluctant or unable to hire.

The pandemic in the U.S. has also lead to record unemployment among an unlikely group: nurses and health care workers, Jackson Proskow says.

More than 1.3 million Americans applied for unemployment aid last week, a historically high pace that shows that many employers are still laying people off amid the pandemic.

The economists said that employment, income and spending peaked in February and then fell sharply afterward as the viral outbreak shut down businesses across the country, marking the start of the downturn after nearly 11 full years of economic growth.

Analysts are watching the jobless claims data for signs of how fast — or slow — the recovery will be.