Fewer Americans Filed For Jobless Claims Last Week

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week as the US labor market remains healthy despite high interest rates, Matt Ott reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 4,750 to 231,500.

Jobless claims ticked down by 2,000 to 231,000 for the week of Aug. 24, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s just below the 232,000 new filings analysts were expecting.

The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 4,750 to 231,500.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits, which are considered a proxy for layoffs, remain low by historic standards, though they have ticked up in recent months.

From January through May, claims averaged a paltry 213,000 a week. But they started rising in May, hitting 250,000 in late July, adding to evidence that high interest rates were finally cooling a red-hot US job market.

Employers added just 114,000 jobs in July, well below the January-June monthly average of nearly 218,000.

The unemployment rate rose for the fourth straight month in July, though it remains low at 4.3%. Last week, the Labor Department reported that the US economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March this year than were originally reported.