Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits increased last week but stayed relatively low, the latest sign that the labor market remains on solid ground.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, increased by 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 240,000 last week, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That is close to the prepandemic 2019 weekly average of 218,400, during the similarly strong labor market that prevailed before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
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