Thursday’s report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims fell from 781,000 the week before. It is the first time that weekly applications for jobless aid have fallen below 700,000 since mid-March of last year. Before the pandemic tore through the economy, applications had never topped that level.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Friday announced a deal with the Senate’s Democratic leadership on an unemployment insurance amendment to the coronavirus relief package after the Senate ground to a complete halt for nine hours while both parties wooed him to support their competing proposals.
The United States added 379,000 jobs in February, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department—far surpassing the 198,000 new jobs economists were expecting—as hiring rebounded in the leisure and hospitality sectors.
