Weekly jobless claims hit a fresh pandemic-era low for the fourth consecutive week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, with 498,000 Americans filing for initial unemployment benefits in the week that ended May 1.

That’s down 92,000 from last week’s upwardly revised level, the lowest figure since mid-March of last year. The streak of weekly declines, which started with a surprise drop in mid-April, suggests the recovery is gaining traction, pulling scores of workers back into the folds of the labor market as business restrictions continue to loosen and vaccinations pick up.

A federal judge on Wednesday vacated a nationwide freeze on evictions that was put in place by federal health officials to help cash-strapped renters remain in their homes during the pandemic.

The ruling was a win for a coalition of property owners and realtors, who brought one of several challenges against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium, which was first enacted under former President Trump and later extended through June.

In a 20-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed by Trump, ruled that the agency exceeded its authority with the temporary ban.  

“The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not,” Friedrich wrote.