Jobless Claims Fall to 473,000 as U.S. Reopening Rebound Continues

New jobless claims fell to 473,000 for the week ended May 8th, data from the Department of Labor showed Thursday.

Economists had expected claims to fall to 475,000. The previous week was revised up to 507,000 from the preliminary estimate of 498,000.

Jobless claims can be volatile week to week so economists like to look at the four-week average. This fell to 5340,000, the lowest since the pandemic struck last March.

Continuing claims—which get reported with a week’s delay—fell to 3,655,000, a decrease of 45,000 from the previous week’s revised...