The surge of people filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits in New York state amid the coronavirus pandemic slowed by nearly 50 percent last week.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 204,716 people filed an initial claim in New York in the week ending April 18. That was down from 394,701 claims in the prior week and 344,451 the week before that.
The reduction in unemployment-benefit applications indicates that the pace of layoffs and furloughs in the state has slowed after a flood in the early stages of New York state’s coronavirus shutdown.
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Still, the weekly claims are unusually high compared to normal times. More than 1.3 million people in New York have filed a first-time application for jobless benefits since the crisis started.