US new weekly jobless claims fall below 2 million for first time since March

Washington

THE number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped below two million last week for the first time since mid-March, but remains astonishingly high as companies adjust to an environment that has been significantly changed by Covid-19.

New claims for state unemployment benefits totalled a seasonally adjusted 1.877 million for the week ended May 30, down from 2.126 million the prior week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Economists had forecast 1.8 million initial claims in the latest week.