The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment decreased more than forecast last week, as the U.S. labor market continues its gradual recovery from its biggest shock in history, caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled 881,000 for the week ended August 29. That brought the number of job losses over the past twenty-four weeks (since the U.S. went into coronavirus lockdown in mid-March) to near 59.3 million.

Economists had expected 950,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 1,011,000 from the initial estimate of 1,006,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims fell to 991,750 from an upwardly revised 1,069,250 in the previous week.

Continuing claims decreased to 13,254,000 million from a downwardly revised 14,492,000 in the previous week.