Weekly jobless claims in US slump to 411K

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week, a sign that layoffs declined and the job market is improving.

The Labor Department said Thursday that jobless claims fell just 7,000 from the previous week to 411,000. Weekly claims have fallen steadily this year from about 900,000 in January.

The economy expanded at a healthy pace in the first three months of the year, the government also reported Thursday, and economists are optimistic that growth will accelerate in the April-June quarter, when it could top 10% at an annual rate. As the pandemic fades, states and cities are lifting more business restrictions and the economy is picking up.

Unemployment claims jumped 14,500 last week in Pennsylvania, the biggest gain of any state.

With many employers desperate to hire, some states are starting to cut off pandemic-related unemployment aid programs in response to business complaints that the assistance is making it harder for them to find workers. Starting this month, 26 states will end an extra $300 weekly federal unemployment payment and 22 of those states will also cut off all jobless assistance to self-employed, gig workers, and those out of work more than six months. The extra $300 ends nationwide on Sept. 6.

Economists at Bank of America have estimated that those who earned less than $32,000 a year at their previous jobs can receive more in jobless aid with the extra $300. At the same time, the federal government last year set up two unemployment benefit programs that covered millions of self-employed and contract workers for the first time.

The decision by 26 states — nearly all run by Republican governors — to drop the $300 will sharply reduce unemployment aid for roughly 4.7 million people, the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, estimates. State jobless benefits provide, on average, about $320 a week and typically replace about 40% of an unemployed worker’s wages.