US initial jobless claims fall slightly

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell 51,000 to 364,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Analysts expected 390,000 for the week ending June 26. The previous week's figure was revised up from 411,000 to 415,000.

It was the thirteenth 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.