There were 304,000 first-time claims filed for unemployment insurance last week, up just 2,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 302,000, .
The scant increase means claims continued to run near their lowest pace since May 2007 — seven months before the economy slipped into its latest recession. That downturn , but job growth has remained relatively sluggish for much of the time since then.
, claims "rose less than expected ... offering further evidence of the economy's underlying strength."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
