US Weekly Jobless Claims Hit , New Pandemic-Era Low.
The Labor Department reported a total of 348,000 jobless claims for the week that ended on Aug.
14.
The number is down 29,000 from the previous week and less than the Dow Jones estimate of 365,000.
Ongoing claims fell to 2.82 million, which is also a new pandemic-era low.
First-time filings for unemployment insurance hit a new low, despite worries over the delta variant.
The last time claims were this low was Mar.
14, 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic declaration was announced.
Despite the new low, the jobs gap remains large, with six million fewer Americans being considered employed now than prior to the pandemic.
Economists suspect a number of reasons for this, including many workers pushing for extra protections as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
As a result, wages have been increasing with average hourly wages up 4% year over year in July