US jobless claims fell to 364,000 last week, a new pandemic low

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Claims for workers for unemployment benefits fell to 364,000 last week, hitting a new pandemic low as layoffs continued to fall.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims in the week ending June 26 fell by a seasonally adjusted 51,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 415,000.

The decline brought the four-week moving average, which smooths out fluctuations in the weekly numbers, by 6000 from the previous week’s average to 392,750, also a new low for the pandemic.

Claims for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, have fallen nearly 50% since the first week of April, but are still above pre-pandemic levels.

“The big picture is that it’s in decline over the long term,” said Ann Elizabeth Konkel, an economist at job search site Indeed, referring to the total of new claims.

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