WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell to 787,000 last week, as the labor market continues to recover at a slowing pace, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Thursday.
In the week ending Oct. 17, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 55,000 from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 842,000, according to the BLS report.
It marks the ninth time in the past 31 weeks that the number dropped below 1 million, and the first time it has dipped below 800,000.
The number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending Oct. 10 decreased by 1 million to 8.37 million, according to the report.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs, state and federal combined, for the week ending Oct. 3 also declined by 1 million to 23.15 million.
As COVID-19 shutdowns rippled through the workforce, initial jobless claims spiked by 3 million to reach a record 3.3 million in the week ending March 21, and then doubled to record 6.87 million in the week ending March 28.
After that, the number has been declining overall -- though still at historically high levels -- but the trend was reversed a few times since mid-July amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
U.S. employers added 661,000 jobs in September, the smallest hiring gain since the labor market started to recover in May, the BLS reported earlier. State governments are facing extreme budget distress, and the extra 600-U.S.-dollar weekly unemployment benefits from the federal government expired at the end of July, but Congress and White House remain deadlocked over the next round of COVID-19 relief bill. Enditem
