By Sarah Chaney Cambon

Jobless claims declined to a new pandemic low last week, in a sign hiring is primed to strengthen as workers return to the labor market.

Unemployment claims fell to 473,000 last week from a revised 507,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. Claims are now at the lowest level since mid-March 2020, when the pandemic shut down the economy. They remain more than twice as high as levels seen before the pandemic struck last spring.

Write to Sarah Chaney Cambon at sarah.chaney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 13, 2021 08:56 ET (12:56 GMT)