WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Weekly jobless claims fell more than expected in the United States last week to a more than a year low as the labor market benefits from an economic rebound fueled by an improving situation health and massive government support.
Enrollments fell to 498,000 in the week to May 1 from 590,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. The economists surveyed expected an average of 540,000 new registrations.
They thus fall to their lowest level since mid-March 2020, a period which coincides with the mandatory closures of non-essential businesses with the first wave of contamination by the coronavirus.
Registrations for the week to April 24 were revised up from an initial estimate of 553,000, with a four-week moving average of 560,000 from 621,000 (revised) the week before. The number of people receiving regular benefits amounted to 3.690 million during the week to April 24 (last week for which these figures are available) against 3.653 million the previous week.
(Lucia Mutikani, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Patrick Vignal)
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