US weekly jobless claims fell to the lowest since March 2020

The US initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 92,000 to a seasonally adjusted 498,000 in the week ending May 1, beating forecast for 540,000 claims and hitting the lowest level since March 2020, when America entered the lockdown in attempts to slow the first wave of coronavirus infections.

Falling number of Americans filled new claims signals that the labor market recovery gains pace amid accelerating economic activity, sparked by massive government financial assistance and strong improvement in public health, due to speeding vaccination.

Although the data also showed that US based employers registered the fewest job cuts in almost 21 years in April and private sector payrolls rose further, signaling a new stage of the recovery, the labor market is not out of woods yet as over 16 million people are still on unemployment benefits.

The separate report showed that layoffs announced by US employers fell 25% in April to nearly 23,000, the fewest since June 2000, with planned layoffs being so far down 94% this year, compared to the same period last year.

Jobless claims have dropped significantly from a record 6.1 million in April 2020 but are still above the 200,000/250,000 range, which indicates a healthy labor market.