U.S. Unemployment Drops To New Low For COVID-19 Pandemic

The United States of America is reporting a new low in unemployment for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday (May 13), the Labor Department's latest report showed showed applications for unemployment dropped by 34,000 from 507,000 to 473,000 during a one-week span, ABC News reports.

The number of weekly jobless claims has also seen a significant decrease from its peak of 900,000 in January.

The increase in hiring comes as vaccinations increase and consumers, on average, are more confident in spending money after having limited purchases during the pandemic and received stimulus checks to increase their bank accounts.

More Americans are shopping, traveling and dining out than at any point during the pandemic with many public places reopening.

Economists monitor weekly jobless claims in an effort to forecast economic trends. However, the numbers have become less reliable during the pandemic as states have struggled to clear backlogs of unemployment applications and suspected fraud has clouded the volume of job cuts.

ABC News reports employers are cutting less jobs and are instead struggling to attract applicants for open positions, which has led to just 266,000 jobs added in April, fewer than expected.

The surprisingly low totals for jobs added in April raised concerns that businesses struggled to hire quickly as the economy kept improving.

Photo: Getty Images


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