WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to 576,000, a post-COVID low and a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession.The Labor Department said Thursday that applications plummeted by 193,000 from a revised 769,000 a week earlier.
Jobless claims are now down sharply from a peak of 900,000 in early January.For the week ending March 27, 16.9 million people were continuing to collect jobless benefits, down from 18.2 million in the previous week.