Fewer Americans filing for unemployment aid

Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week, although the number remained above 1 million. Nearly 1.2 million people applied for unemployment benefits in the week ended August 1, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s a drop from 1.4 million the previous week.

An additional 655,000 people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new federal program for self-employed and gig workers. That figure fell by 250,000 from the previous week.

The latest unemployment claims figures mark the first time since March that the total number of jobless aid applicants fell below 2 million.

Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics called the latest numbers “a move in the right direction as jobless claims fell last week.”

This is a developing story.