New Unemployment Claims Fall To 751,000, Beat Expectations

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 751,000 last week as the economy continues to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figures released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Oct. 17, in which there were 787,000 new jobless claims reported. The figure released on Oct. 22 was the lowest since March, according to CNBC.

Economists expected Thursday’s jobless claims number to come in around 778,000 CNBC reported. New jobless claims fell below 1 million in the first week of August, which was the first time the weekly claims had fallen below 1 million since March.

“The easy gains have been had so far,” Deutsche Bank senior U.S. economist Brett Ryan told The Wall Street Journal. “We don’t think that you’re going to see the draconian shutdowns that you had at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s going to be much more localized, but that alone keeps firms cautious.”

Average coronavirus cases and deaths per million have been increasing steadily in the U.S. since around Oct. 17, according to The COVID Tracking Project and The Financial Times.

Jobless claims hovered around 200,000 per week before the pandemic, according to WSJ. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in March as coronavirus spread rapidly around the world.

The U.S. added 661,000 jobs in September, while unemployment fell to 7.9%, according to the Department of Labor data released Oct. 2. October’s unemployment report is set to be released on Nov. 6.

The U.S. economy plunged by a record 31.4% in the second quarter due to the pandemic. The third-quarter report, which will be released Thursday, is expected to show significant growth, according to the Associated Press.