Thousands more self-employed people — including contractors and gig workers — filed for unemployment benefits in Maryland and Virginia last week, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

In Maryland, 8,914 individuals filed new claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a new program created under the national CARES Act. An additional 3,595 workers in Virginia did the same. In contrast, D.C.’s PUA numbers dipped slightly, down 206 claims from the prior week.

PUA benefits are available to self-employed workers and others who don’t normally qualify for regular unemployment insurance.

As of mid-June, more than 770,000 people were still collecting PUA benefits in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. In Maryland, a total of 532,637 people filed continuing claims in the week ending June 13; in Virginia, there were 227,730; and in D.C. there were 12,479 such claims.

Virginia also saw an increase in regular unemployment claims, with 7,769 new applications filed the week ending June 27. Maryland and D.C. saw more optimistic numbers, with 10,620 fewer claims filed in Maryland and 47 fewer in the District.

Thousands of workers have complained for months that unemployment offices in D.C., Maryland and Virginia were woefully unprepared for the tidal wave of pandemic-related job losses that began in March. In Maryland, Democratic lawmakers are pressing Gov. Larry Hogan to send $1,200 checks to the thousands of workers who continue to await benefits while their claims are processed.

The governor has not responded to those requests. Meanwhile, the Maryland Department of Labor — which administers benefits in the state — continues to tout its claims fulfillment rate.

The federal government also released new national unemployment numbers Thursday that suggest the country’s economy is beginning to bounce back after months of pandemic-induced shutdowns, prompting optimism from President Donald Trump and U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia.

“Today’s jobs report shows that our resilient economy continues to return more people to work, more quickly, than forecast,” Scalia said in a statement. “It is heartening to see employment gains across nearly all demographics.”

But some analysts warn the 4.8 million jobs added last month could reflect short-term gains within states that rushed to reopen their economies, and may be forced to shut down again.

The reopening of businesses in the D.C. region has created another problem for workers: Those who refuse to return to the job for health and safety reasons risk losing their unemployment benefits. Virginia recently reported that more than 12,000 workers had their payments suspended after they declined to go back to work.