US applications for unemployment benefits rise, still at historically healthy levels
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose modestly last week, but remains at healthy levels Jobless claims rose by 4,000 to 232,000 for the week of Aug. 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday
Slightly more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but the number of claims remains at healthy levels.
Jobless claims rose by 4,000 to 232,000 for the week of Aug. 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly gyrations, ticked down by 750 to 236,000.
For the week ending Aug. 10, 1.86 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits, 4,000 more than the week before.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits, which are a proxy for layoffs, remain low by historic standards.
From January through May, claims averaged a paltry 213,000 a week. But they started rising in May, hitting 250,000 in late July and adding to evidence that high interest rates are taking a toll on the U.S. job market.
However, the tiny increase in claims this week follows two straight weeks of declines, largely dispelling worries that the job market is deteriorating rapidly rather than just slowing.
The Federal Reserve, fighting inflation that hit a four-decade just over two years ago, raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023, taking it to a 23-year high. Inflation has come down steadily — from more than 9% in June 2022 to a three-year low of 2.9% last month. Despite higher borrowing costs, the economy and hiring kept chugging along, defying widespread fears that the U.S. was poised to tip into a recession.
The economy is weighing heavily on voters as they prepare for November’s presidential election. Despite a solid job market and
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