US jobless claims fall below 1m for first time since mid-March

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell below one million last week for the first time since mid-March as a Congress-approved weekly wage supplement expired.

Initial jobless claims came to a seasonally-adjusted 963,000 for the week to August 8, compared to 1.191m in the prior week, the US Department of Labor said on Thursday. The figure was lower than analyst estimates of 1.1m.

The $600-a-week jobless supplement expired on July 31. President Donald Trump last Saturday signed an executive order that included extending the supplement, although a reduced rate of $400.

Citizens actively collecting state jobless aid fell to 15.5m from 16.1m for the week that ended August 1. Continuing claims equalled 10.6% of the workforce, down from 11%.

The economy suffered a serious of massive blows after coronavirus-related shutdowns were imposed mid-March. Overall there were 28.3m people claiming benefits in state and federal programmes as of July 25, compared with 31.3m a week before, on an unadjusted basis.