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AirTalk

With Jobless Claims Declining, We Check In On CA’s Labor Market

By AirTalk Staff
Published Jun 3, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 19: Construction workers work on the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge on May 19, 2021 in Washington, DC. The nearly $500 million project to replace the old Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge is the largest public works project in District of Columbia history and employed more than 1300 workers at the height of construction. The bridge, which carries South Capitol Street over the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, is tentatively scheduled to open in the fall of 2021. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Construction workers work on the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge on May 19, 2021 in Washington, DC.
(
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
)
Listen 19:48
With Jobless Claims Declining, We Check In On CA’s Labor Market
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fifth straight week to a new pandemic low, the latest evidence that the U.S. job market is regaining its health as the economy further reopens. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 385,000, down 20,000 from the week before. The number of weekly applications for unemployment aid, which generally reflects the pace of layoffs, has fallen steadily all year, though it remains high by historical standards. The decline in applications reflects a swift rebound in economic growth and the job market’s steady recovery from the coronavirus recession. More Americans are venturing out to shop, travel, dine out and congregate at entertainment venues. All that renewed spending has led companies to seek new workers. We check in on the labor market, both nationally and in California. With files from the Associated Press. Guest: William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, an economic think tank based in Santa Monica; he specializes in Asia, trade, the global economy, job creation and more Chris Tilly, economist and a professor of urban planning at UCLA

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week for a fifth straight week to a new pandemic low, the latest evidence that the U.S. job market is regaining its health as the economy further reopens.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 385,000, down 20,000 from the week before. The number of weekly applications for unemployment aid, which generally reflects the pace of layoffs, has fallen steadily all year, though it remains high by historical standards.

The decline in applications reflects a swift rebound in economic growth and the job market’s steady recovery from the coronavirus recession. More Americans are venturing out to shop, travel, dine out and congregate at entertainment venues. All that renewed spending has led companies to seek new workers.

We check in on the labor market, both nationally and in California. 

With files from the Associated Press. 

Guest:

William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, an economic think tank based in Santa Monica;  he specializes in Asia, trade, the global economy, job creation and more

Chris Tilly, economist and a professor of urban planning at UCLA