US initial jobless claims decline by 29,000

ANKARA

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell 29,000 to 348,000 last week, according to Labor Department figures on Thursday.

Analysts expected 363,000 claims for the week ending Aug. 14. The previous week's figure was revised up by 2,000 from 375,000 to 377,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in July from 5.9% in June, according to the latest figures.

Although the world's largest economy added 943,000 jobs in July, it still has 8.7 million unemployed workers as of last month.

More than 22 million people in the US lost jobs in March and April of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.