Jobless claims plummet as retail sales jump

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week tumbled to the lowest level since the pandemic began. The U.S. Labor Department reported 576,000 new jobless claims last week—a 25 percent drop from the week before.

Is there more good news? In March, employers added more than 900,000 jobs, the most since August 2020. That dropped the unemployment rate to 6 percent, less than half the pandemic peak of 14.8 percent. Sales at stores, car dealers, restaurants, and bars also jumped by almost 10 percent in March, the biggest gain in nearly a year.

Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about Democrats’ push for a federal minimum wage hike.