U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Fell to 1.5 Million Last Week

The number of people seeking and receiving unemployment benefits fell, signs the labor market continues to mend.

The ranks of Americans drawing unemployment benefits declined slightly in the week ended May 30 to 20.9 million, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Though states continue to work through a backlog of claims, new applications for unemployment benefits have trended down since the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns triggered a surge in claims at the end of March. About 1.5 million applications were filed last week, compared with a peak of nearly 7 million in the week ended March 28.

As businesses reopen and some recall workers who were furloughed, the labor market appears to be picking up after millions of jobs were lost in March and April. Although unemployment is still at levels unseen in many decades, with employment down by nearly 20 million jobs since February, the jobless rate in May declined to 13.3%, and employers added 2.5 million jobs that month.

Policy debates over the pace of economic recovery are at the heart of discussions regarding the next coronavirus stimulus bill. Democrats and Republicans have been sparring over whether to extend the extra $600 a week that jobless claimants are receiving as part of a federal stimulus bill passed in late March. The expanded benefits are scheduled to expire at the end of July.

Republicans are concerned that the supplemental benefits, which give many workers more money than they were making before the crisis, will discourage people from returning to work, slowing the economic recovery. Democrats want to extend funding for the larger unemployment payments, arguing that if businesses don’t rebound quickly, the additional money will keep millions of workers afloat financially.

Meanwhile, workers are still facing delays in accessing benefits. A recent survey by job search company ZipRecruiter found more than a third of individuals who applied for unemployment benefits after losing their jobs because of the pandemic were still waiting to receive payments. The survey was conducted June 1-4, and included 757 people who applied for benefits because of the pandemic and had logged into the job search site.