The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a fresh pandemic low last week, another sign the job market is healing after last year's coronavirus recession.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 14,000 to 269,000 for the week ended October 30, the Labor Department said on Thursday, marking the lowest level since the middle of March in 2020.
Since topping 900,000 in early January, the weekly applications have fallen more or less steadily ever since and are gradually moving toward prepandemic levels of around 220,000 a week.
The new data follow a strong hiring report from ADP, which said on Wednesday that private payrolls increased by more than expected in October. The monthly federal employment situation report, the most closely watched indicator, will be released on Friday.
The economy has recovered 17 million of the jobs lost to the pandemic, and economists expect Friday's jobs report to show that it regained another 400,000 in October.
But the United States is still 5 million jobs short of where it stood in February 2020, despite record openings of more than 10 million vacant positions, and many Americans appear to have dropped out of the workforce.
Overall, 2.1 million Americans were collecting unemployment checks the week of October 23 - down from 7.1 million a year earlier when the economy was still reeling from the coronavirus outbreak.
The four-week average of jobless claims, which smooths out weekly ups and downs, dropped below 285,000, also a pandemic low.
The job market has been rebounding since the pandemic struck the U.S. economy in the spring of 2020.
In March and
