USA: sharp drop in jobless claims, below 400,000

Between June 20 and 26, 364,000 people applied for unemployment benefits, a drop of 51,000, while analysts expected a decline to only 400,000.

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Weekly jobless claims in the United States have fallen more than expected to fall to their lowest level since the start of the Covid pandemic, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor.

Between June 20 and 26, 364,000 people applied for unemployment benefits, a decrease of 51,000 compared to the previous week, whose data have been revised upwards (415,000).

We have to go back to March 14, 2020 to have such a low level when requests amounted to 256,000, the ministry said in a press release. Analysts were expecting a slight drop (400,000).

On average over four weeks, new requests amount to 392,750, a decrease of 6,000 compared to the previous period. It is also the lowest level since March 14, 2020.

This drastic drop coincides with the reduction by many republican states of additional aid granted to the unemployed.

The unemployed receive an additional allowance of $ 300 per week, on top of state allowances which range from $ 230 to $ 820 per week.

These exceptional allowances are due to expire in early September.

On Friday, the Ministry of Labor will publish the unemployment rate and the number of job creations recorded in June. Analysts expect the unemployment rate to drop slightly to 5.7% from 5.8% in May.

They are projecting 680,000 job creations against 559,000 the previous month.

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