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U.S. unemployment insurance claims fall below 1 million

A Thursday morning report from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell below 1 million this past week, seasonally adjusted numbers revealing a 130,000 drop in filed claims.

Unemployment insurance claims have dropped below 1 million, according to a Thursday morning news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

This report reflects similar news from the department in early August, the last time benefit claims were reported to have fallen below 1 million before numbers quickly reversed, coming back higher.

Seasonally adjusted initial claims for the last week ending on Aug. 29 was 881,000, a decrease of 130,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the release.

Individuals filing for insured unemployment – those filing for at least two weeks in a row – came out to be 13,254,000 during the week ending Aug. 22. This total shows a decrease of 1,238,000 from the previous week’s revised level, which sat at 14,492,000.

The numbers reported do not include claims filed for other government programs providing financial assistance due to COVID-19, such as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).