New weekly jobless claims fall unexpectedly, but remain high

U.S. Department of Labor.
(Image credit: ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images)

Weekly jobless claims in the United States fell unexpectedly as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, though they remained above recent lows seen in early November.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that 803,000 Americans filed initial jobless claims — which Reuters notes is the most timely data on the economy's health — last week. That figure was down from the 892,000 new claims filed the previous week, and it was also shy of the 885,000 claims anticipated by economists.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.