Perhaps the economic recovery has some oomph behind it in the United States, with news this morning fewer Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week.
The latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department puts the number at 712,000, lower than the expected 725,000 applications for unemployment aid during the week ended March 6.
Employers waited to see if President Joe Biden’s $1.9-trillion stimulus would become law, as it looks to this week.
Filings for state jobless aid, seen as a proxy for layoffs, have slowed in recent weeks but remain firmly above pre-pandemic levels. The pre-Covid record for first-time applicants was 695,000.
Continuing claims again decreased, falling 193,000 to 4.1 million, another pandemic-era low, in data that runs a week behind the headline claims number.
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