Weekly jobless claims rise back above 700K

Weekly jobless claims rose above 700,000 last week after briefly dipping below the pre-pandemic record for the first time since March 2020, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

In the week ending March 27, the seasonally adjusted number of new applications for unemployment insurance rose to 719,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 658,000.

Last week’s increase brings weekly jobless claims back above the pre-coronavirus pandemic record of roughly 690,000, set in October 1982. Weekly claims had been consistently above that level since the end of March 2020, when the...