Lincoln – Fewer people filed new claims for unemployment in Nebraska in the most recent report, but the number is still higher than it was before the coronavirus pandemic, officials said last Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported 5,135 new claims during the week that ended May 30, which is 677 less than the number filed the previous week.

The figures are still more than five times higher than they had been in early March, before the pandemic prompted state officials to impose social-distancing restrictions that forced many businesses to close.

Nebraska never imposed an official stay-at-home order, but many businesses were still forced to close. Some restrictions have since been eased, and even more were relaxed on June 1.

In Iowa, the number of people filing initial unemployment claims continued to fall as the state began reopening businesses.

Iowa Workforce Development reported that 6,920 people filed initial claims in the week ending May 30, a drop of nearly 50% from the previous week.

There were 165,195 continuing weekly unemployment claims last week, a drop of 13,000 from the previous week. The largest number of claims came from people employed in manufacturing.

Nationally, nearly 1.9 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week and the total number of people receiving jobless aid increased to 21.5 million. That’s down from a peak of 25 million two weeks ago.