Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, but the modest drop did little to dispel concerns that the U.S. job market and wider economy face an arduous recovery from the devastation inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.The final major economic data point for a year that saw a recession of historic magnitude erupt out of nowhere stood as a fitting reminder for both how far the recovery has progressed and how much more it has to go.While new claims for benefits reported by the U.S. Labour Department on Thursday dropped for the second week in a row to a seasonally...…Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, but the modest drop did little to dispel concerns that the U.S. job market and wider economy face an arduous recovery from the devastation inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.The final major economic data point for a year that saw a recession of historic magnitude erupt out of nowhere stood as a fitting reminder for both how far the recovery has progressed and how much more it has to go.While new claims for benefits reported by the U.S. Labour Department on Thursday dropped for the second week in a row to a seasonally...WW…