Updated Jan. 7, 2021 12:12 pm ET Workers continued to apply for unemployment aid at an elevated level at the end of 2020 and holiday-season demand for imported consumer products pushed the November trade deficit in goods to a record, signs of the uneven economic recovery. Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits from regular state programs, a proxy for layoffs, fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 787,000 in the week ended Jan. 2, the Labor Department said Thursday. The prior week’s figure was revised up by 3,000. Unemployment claims have been holding at about four times their pre-pandemic average through the fall and into the winter.