Number of Americans applying for unemployment drops to new pandemic low

The number of Americans filing claims for first-time unemployment benefits fell to a pandemic-era low, showing that the job market continues to strengthen despite the current surge of coronavirus around the country.

Some 348,000 people applied for first-time jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's a drop of 29,000 from the prior week's number, and the lowest since March 14, 2020. There were another 109,000 claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal program for self-employed and gig workers. The latest claims numbers are "encouraging," Ian Shepherson of Pantheon Macroeconomics told investors in a research note. "We expect little change over the next couple weeks, but we hope to see clear new lows in September."