2021.03.2512:38:00UTC+00U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Pull Back Much More Than Expected

After reporting an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing initial jobless claims pulled back by much more than expected in the week ended March 20th.

The report said initial jobless claims slid to 684,000, a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week's revised level of 781,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to decline to 730,000 from the 770,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the much bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 282,000 in the week ended March 14, 2020.