Unemployment Claims Fall to New Pandemic-Era Low but Remain Historically High

A pedestrian walks by a Now Hiring sign outside of a Lamps Plus store in San Francisco on June 3, 2021. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The brisk economic recovery has driven down the number of American workers seeking unemployment benefits, which last week fell to a pandemic-era low, although the number remains historically elevated.

Initial filings for unemployment insurance, a proxy for layoffs, came in at 385,000 for the week ending July 31, a drop of 14,000 over the previous week’s revised level, the Labor Department said in a release (pdf) on Aug. 5.