US Weekly Unemployment Claims Drops to New Pandemic Low of 290,000

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to a new low since the pandemic, signaling that layoffs are dropping.

Source: US Department of Labor

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Unemployment claims decreased 6,000 to 290,000 last week, the third consecutive decline. That’s the fewest people to apply for benefits since March 2020, when the pandemic intensified.

Applications for jobless aid, which generally track the pace of layoffs, have dropped steadily from nearly 900,000 in January.

Thursday’s decline in claims comes after a separate report a final week from the feds confirmed American staff are quitting at document charges. A record 4.3 million individuals gave up their jobs in August.

Continuing claims dropped by 122,000 from the prior week’s revised stage. That figure stood at nearly 13 million at the same time in the previous year, in the course of the pandemic.

Nearly 2.5 million Americans on conventional state unemployment advantages as of Thursday.