U.S. applications for unemployment benefits held nearly steady at a low level last week in the latest sign the labor market remains tight.
The job market has cooled a little compared with the first half of the year but remains strong. Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, are down this fall from a summer peak. Last week, workers filed for a seasonally adjusted 217,000 claims, nearly identical to the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. The prepandemic 2019 weekly average was 218,000, when the labor market also was robust.
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