Unemployment claims had been historically low for quite a while because they had been made harder to get:

The EPI survey estimated between 8.9 million and 13.9 million more Americans would have filed for claims over the past five weeks had the process been easier.

“These findings on the millions of frustrated filers and the UI (unemployment insurance) system’s low payment rate highlight the need for policies to improve rather than hinder the UI application process,” the authors said.