Weekly initial jobless claims drop below 1 million for the first time since March

For the first time since March 21, weekly initial unemployment insurance claims dropped below 1 million in the United States. The number of claims was 963,000, which was lower than the predicted number of 1.1 million. 

Prior to this week's figures, the initial jobless claims number was higher than 1 million for 20 weeks in a row as the country's economy contracted amid sweeping COVID-19 mitigation measures. 

While the first-time claims number was below 1 million for the first week of August, the continuing jobless claims figure is still nearly 15.5 million, although that figure decreased by more than 600,000 this week as well.