Fewer workers file for jobless aid — first drop in four weeks

The number of workers applying for first-time jobless aid is falling for the first time in a month, indicating the U.S. job market is resuming its steady recovery.

Some 326,000 people filed first-time unemployment claims last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's 38,000 fewer than the previous week, and the first drop after three weeks of steady increases.

Since surpassing 900,000 in early January, the weekly applications, a proxy for layoffs, had fallen more or less steadily, but they remain elevated from pre-pandemic levels. Before COVID-19 slammed the U.S. economy in March 2020, weekly claims hovered between 200,000 and 250,000.