US jobless claims below 400,000 for second time during coronavirus pandemic

ANKARA

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell 9,000 to 376,000 last week, marking the second time numbers were below 400,000 since March 2020, the Labor Department said Thursday.

It also marked the tenth time during the coronavirus pandemic that initial jobless claims came in below 700,000.

Analysts expected 370,000 for the week ending June 5. The previous week was unrevised at 385,000

The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in May, from 6.1% the previous month, according to the agency.

The US, however, still has 9.3 million unemployed individuals after adding 559,000 jobs last month.

More than 22 million people in the world's largest economy lost jobs in March and April 2020 because of COVID-19.