By Ovunc Kutlu
ANKARA (AA) - The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell 7,000 to 411,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Analysts expected 380,000 for the week ending June 19. The previous week's figure was revised 6,000 from 412,000 to 418,000.
It was the twelfth time during the coronavirus pandemic that claims were below 700,000, indicating a recovery in the labor market.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in May, from 6.1% the previous month, according to the agency.
The US, however, still has 9.3 million unemployed workers after adding 559,000 jobs last month.
More than 22 million people in the world's largest economy lost jobs in March and April of 2020 because of the pandemic.