The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits has approached pre -pandemic figures in the past week. This carries an indication that the number of claims is increasingly in line with job growth driven by buoyant economic activity, increased vaccinations and substantial fiscal stimulus.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits were 406,000 for the week ended May 22 based on a report released by the Department of Labor on Thursday.
This reading is much lower than the previous week which saw a total of only 406,000 claims, which is among the lowest since mid-March 2020. Where in March last year, the government imposed a curfew and caused many economic sectors to close to curb the spread of Covid-19.
While the level was still above the norm before Covid-19 hit last March, it is the closest to the previous trend since the crisis began and a decline from 444,000 the previous week.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department kept its preliminary estimate of first -quarter gross domestic product (GDP) unchanged at 6.4%.
The number of unemployment claims in the week ended March 7, 2020 before the pandemic hit the country where the total number of unemployment claims was 212,000. As of May 23, 2020, the total claims were nearly 1.9 million.
Although claims remained on the rise during the pandemic phase, government efforts and rapid vaccine distribution have contributed to the decline in Covid-19 cases.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against other currencies, strengthened slightly by 0.03% to an exchange rate of 90.045 as of 9.02 p.m.
