Unemployment claims hit new pandemic low of 406,000
By Niv Elis - 05/27/21 08:40 AM EDT
Weekly initial unemployment claims continued their steady downward trend in the third week of May, hitting a new pandemic low of a seasonally adjusted 406,000, a drop of 38,000, or 8.6 percent, from the previous week.
While the claims remain well above historical averages, the new total was better than the 425,000 claims economists expected, and points to a steadily recovering labor market.
The growing level of vaccinations has brought daily cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations and deaths down dramatically in recent weeks, allowing local and state governments to ease restrictions and giving people renewed confidence to leave their houses and spend.
Thursday's report had other sunny spots as well, including a continued drop in claims through emergency unemployment programs set up for the pandemic. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which offers benefits to gig workers and the self-employed, dropped to 93,546, only the second time it was below 100,000 since the pandemic began.
Amid the earliest pandemic restrictions at the same time last year, the program had over 1.3 million claims.
The number of continuing claims, which lags by two weeks, fell to 15.8 million in the latest report from about 16 million the previous week.
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https://thehill.com/policy/finance/555674-unemployment-claims-hit-new-pandemic-low-of-406000
