US claims for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly to a one-month low though the recent increases in coronavirus cases and business closures threaten to keep layoffs elevated through early 2021. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs declined by 19,000 to 787,000 in the week ended Dec. 26, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. Continuing claims for state programs, which roughly correlates to the total number of people receiving state unemployment benefits, also decreased, to 5.22 million in the week ended Dec. 19. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Source: Mint December 31, 2020 13:46 UTC