NEW YORK, NY
The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell by 6,000 to 290,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
While the figure is the second consecutive weekly decline below the critical 300,000 level, “This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000,” it said.
Analysts expected the figure to come in at 300,000 for the week ending Oct. 16. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 3,000 from 293,000 to 296,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in September, down from 5.2% in August, according to the Labor Department.
The US added just 194,000 jobs in September and 7.7 million people are still jobless as of last month in the world’s largest economy.
More than 22 million workers in the US lost jobs in March and April of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
