Initial jobless claims drop to lowest level in over 50 years

People in office building.
(Image credit: xavierarnau/iStock.)

Initial jobless claims plunged to a new pandemic low last week, "performing better than economists expected" while the strong labor market recovery continues, Forbes reports Thursday.

New claims in the week ending March 19 fell 28,000 from the previous week to 187,000, their lowest level since September 1969. According to Bloomberg data, Forbes writes, economists had been expecting the total to be around 210,000.

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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.