More than 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, according to new data from the Department of Labor. That's the lowest number since the coronavirus pandemic began, but still far above normal figures. The DOL also reports the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 30 were in Florida (32,296), California (25,372), Oklahoma (16,662) and Mississippi (158), while the largest decreases were in New York (107,161), Michigan (25,284), Texas (21,040), Pennsylvania (18,050) and Washington (17,507).

This week's jobs report comes on the heels of the news that the U.S. officially entered a recession in February, the first since 2009, ending 128 consecutive months of economic growth—the longest since 1854.