Jobless claims continue to fall

WASHINGTON—The number of weekly unemployment applications has dropped below 1 million for the first time since early March. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Thursday report revealed 881,000 new claims for jobless benefits last week, and 1 million fewer Americans are receiving state unemployment than in the week before. Economists say the unemployment rate is slowly returning to normal, but the level of new applications remains higher than at any time in the report’s history before the pandemic.

Do other signs point to economic recovery? The U.S. productivity level climbed sharply over the second quarter of 2020. Although Americans worked far fewer hours during April, May, and June, their hourly output rose by more than 10 percent. The shutdowns will still have a lasting effect: The Congressional Budget Office projected a record $3.3 trillion federal deficit, which will push national debt higher than the U.S. gross domestic product next year.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher and David Bahnsen discuss the economic outlook on The World and Everything In It.