U.S. unemployment number holds steady at 870,000, Labor Department reports

The number of U.S. workers filing for first-time unemployment insurance last week held steady at 870,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The U.S. jobless number has stayed below 1 million for the past several weeks, after record highs that began after the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March, sinking the U.S. and global economies.

The new first-time jobless claims were slightly higher than the anticipated figure. However, the continuing claims number, which includes individuals receiving unemployment benefits for at least two weeks, decreased by 167,000.

The total continuing claims figure is now just over 12.5 million. 

The U.S. economy has, at present, reclaimed about half of the jobs initially lost during the first weeks of the pandemic in March and April.

"This next leg of the recovery is going to be much more driven by the underlying strength of the economy rather than businesses just recalling workers," a Moody's Analytics economist told The Wall Street Journal.