US Unemployment Benefit Claims Edged Lower Last Week

WASHINGTON - The number of claims for unemployment benefits decreased in the United States again last week but remained in the same relatively narrow range it has been in for more than two months, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The government said 375,000 jobless workers filed for compensation, down 12,000 from the revised figure the week before. The weekly number of new claims, which roughly correlate to recent layoffs, has ranged from 368,000 to 424,000 since late May, still substantially higher than the 218,000 figure in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic swept through the United States and severely disrupted the world’s biggest economy.