U.S. Jobless Claims Fall To Near Six-Year Low
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A job seeker looks at a job listing board at the East Bay Career Center February 2, 2006 in Oakland, California.

The number of workers who filed for new jobless claims decreased last week with 803,000 filings. In the week prior, jobless claims stood at 892,000, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

This fall in jobless claims could be a sign that the economy is starting to recover from the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic but at a slow pace.

This notable decreased in claims marks the end of a three-month high. But claims are still hovering at the highest since September as states continue to impose restrictions on business activities to prevent coronavirus spread. 

Jobless Claims Lower Than Expected

In a weekly report of the Department of Labor, the current jobless claims were also lower than expected.

In consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg, it has shown that the department was expecting some 880,000 people to file for jobless claims.

Meanwhile, continuing claims for the week ended December 12 stood at 5.337 million compared to the 5.560 expected.

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The Labor Department released its weekly report on Wednesday morning, 8:30 a.m. ET or a day earlier than usual to give way for the Christmas holiday.

Jobless Claims Still At Elevated Levels

Yahoo Finance reported that even though jobless claims went down more than expected last week, claims are still coming at elevated levels.

New claims have consistently been at 800,000 for three consecutive weeks, following two months of new claims crawling below that level.

The report further noted that even if there have been significant decreases, the current numbers are still four times higher than the pre-pandemic pace of just over 200,000 people filing for claims each week.

"We're still seeing a historically elevated number of requests for help," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate. 

More Virus Numbers, More Jobless Claims

Before the pandemic, the largest jump in jobless claims ever recorded was 692,000. But the numbers spiked in April when the pandemic was at one of its dangerous levels. 

Claims started dropping below one million in August, said a report from The Hill. Thanksgiving prompted another round of surges in claims that led it to get stuck at 800,000.

The spike in claims came as the number of coronavirus cases n the country also surged, setting new daily records in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Nela Richardson, the chief economist at payroll-processing firm ADP, told the Wall Street Journal that since the pandemic started, it claimed its place as the "boss" of the economy.

"It's not surprising that as cases have risen, it would be most acutely felt in the labor market," she said.

Richardson said with the rollout of vaccines; people started seeing more optimism. She also said jobless claims today held steadily above the levels seen in the 2007-2009 recession.

Weekly data showed that non-adjusted claims went down 72,512 while nearly 400,000 people sought an expanded emergency pandemic unemployment program for gig workers and the self-employed.

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Two expiring programs assisted a total of 14 million people before getting extended by Congress on Monday.

However, President Donald Trump demanded an increase in stimulus payments on the bill, raising questions of whether the programs would expire anytime soon.