Initial unemployment claims fall by 24,000

New claims for unemployment insurance fell last week by 24,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims in the week ending July 24 decreased to 400,000. The previous week, there were a revised total of 424,000 initial claims.

The total number of people receiving some type of unemployment benefits also rose by about 600,000 in the week ending July 10 to 13.2 million. Considerably fewer people were receiving unemployment benefits than were receiving aid one year earlier, when nearly 32 million were receiving benefits, the Labor Department said.

The new jobless claims figures come as many states have ended the federal expanded unemployment benefits early. The expanded benefits are set to expire in other states in early September.

Analysts noted that while initial jobless claims fell, they are still above pre-pandemic levels.

“Despite consistent improvement in the jobs market, new unemployment claims have not yet been able to shift to a lower level,” Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, said in a statement.

— Updated at 9:48 a.m.