US initial jobless claims decline less than expected

The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell 24,000 to 400,000 last week, less than market expectation, according to Labor Department figures on Thursday.

Analysts had expected 380,000 claims for the week ending July 24. The previous week's figure was revised up by 5,000 from 419,000 to 424,000

Despite the decline, the unemployment rate rose to 5.9% in June from 5.8% the previous month, according to the figures.

Although the world's largest economy added 850,000 jobs in June, it still has 9.5 million unemployed workers.

More than 22 million people in the US lost jobs in March and April of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.