WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits was lower last week at 860,000.

The latest figure released by the Labor Department Thursday, the most timely data on the economy’s health, shows the latest U.S. unemployment rate still far exceeds the number who sought benefits in any week on record before this year.

The number of initial claims for state unemployment benefits was seasonally adjusted for the week ending Sept. 12. Claims were down 33,000 from 884,000 the prior week.

The government also said Thursday that 12.6 million people are continuing to receive traditional jobless benefits, down nearly 1 million from 13.4 million the previous week.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.