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Weekly Jobless Claims Hit New Pandemic-Era Low

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New weekly jobless claims set a new pandemic-era low last week, falling below 500,000 for the first time since March 2020, with initial filings trending decidedly lower in recent weeks amid the pick-up in economic activity.

The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday and here are the main metrics from the report, compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:

Initial jobless claims, week ended May 1: 498,000 vs. 538,000 expected, and a revised 590,000 during the prior week

Continuing claims, week ended April 24: 3.7 million vs. 3.6 million expected, and a revised 3.6 million during the prior week

Consensus economists expected initial unemployment filings to hold below 600,000 for a fourth straight week, dipping to the lowest level since mid-March 2020. Thursday’s print showed an even more marked decline.

Initial filings have slid over the course of the past year, pulling back sharply from a pandemic-era high of more than 6 million.

Click here to read the full report from Emily McCormick at Yahoo Finance.

New claims during the comparable week last year totaled nearly 3 million, but have held below 1 million since August 2020 as layoffs and other separations slowed.

The four-week moving average for new jobless claims fell by 61,000 to 560,000, declining to the lowest level since March 2020 even as the previous week’s new claims total was upwardly revised.

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