The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment has dipped below 1 million for the first time since March.

About 963,000 people sought the benefits last week, down from nearly 1.2 million the week before, the Labor Department said

More than 28 million people - nearly one in five American workers - were still collecting benefits in the week ended 25 July, the Labor Department said

Prior to the pandemic, the highest number of new jobless claims recorded in a week was 695,000, set in 1982

"Another larger-than-expected decline in jobless claims suggests that the jobs recovery is regaining some momentum but with a staggering 28 million workers still claiming some form of jobless benefits, much labour market progress remains to be done," said Lydia Boussour, senior US economist at Oxford Economics