U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls in June; Jobless Claims Down 55,000 in Week -- Update
02 July 2020 - 11:13PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Chaney
The jobless rate fell to 11.1% in June as the U.S. regained 4.8
million jobs, but a recent coronavirus spike could hamper the labor
market's recovery
Job growth in June followed May's payroll gain of 2.7 million
and showed Americans are slowly getting back to work. But the U.S.
labor market is operating with millions fewer jobs than in
February, the month before the coronavirus pandemic struck the U.S.
economy.
The jobless rate, down from 13.3% in May, is still well elevated
at historically high levels compared to before the coronavirus
drove the U.S. into a deep recession. Until March, the unemployment
rate was hovering around a 50-year low of 3.5%.
The number of new applications for jobless benefits fell by
55,000 to 1.43 million last week, the Labor Department said in a
separate report Thursday. Unemployment claims have come down from a
peak of nearly 7 million in late March but have stabilized near a
historically high 1.5 million, an indication companies continue to
cut jobs.
-Eric Morath contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 02, 2020 08:58 ET (12:58 GMT)
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