Initial unemployment claims fall below 300,000, a pandemic-era low

NYC Waiter.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

For the first time since the pandemic began, the number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell below 300,000, The Washington Post reports, per the U.S. Labor Department. The news comes at an otherwise important time for the jobs market, which has, for the last two months, added jobs at a "decidedly slower-than-expected pace," per CNBC.

More specifically, first-time claims fell by 36,000 to just 293,000 for the week ended Oct. 9, "the best level since March 14, 2020," writes CNBC, in "another sign the jobs market is getting closer to its old self."

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.