People visit an outdoor market in Washington D.C., the United States, on Nov. 12, 2020. The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell to 709,000 last week, as the labor market continues to recover at a slowing pace, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell to 709,000 last week, as the labor market continues to recover at a slowing pace, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
In the week ending Nov. 7, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 48,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 757,000, according to the report released by the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It marks the fourth time in the past 34 weeks that the number has dipped below 800,000, and the 12th time it has come in below 1 million.
"The number of initial jobless claims fell further last week. But, the total number of individuals who continue to file claims remains elevated," Jay H. Bryson, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities, wrote in an analysis.
The number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending Oct. 31 decreased by 436,000 to 6.79 million, the report showed.
Meanwhile, the recipients of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, a federal program that provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits for those who exhaust regular state benefits, rose by 159,776 to reach 4.14 million in the week ending Oct. 24.
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs -- state and federal combined -- for the week ending Oct. 24 declined by 374,179 yet remained elevated at 21.16 million, indicating the pandemic's severe disruption of the labor market.
"In short, the labor market, although improving, is far from 'normal,'" said Bryson. Enditem
