U.S. applications for unemployment benefits ticked up modestly last week, according to the Associated Press, signaling employers’ desire to retain workers in spite of economic worries stemming from American trade policy.
For the week ending Aug. 2, jobless benefits claims climbed by 7,000 to 226,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s more than the 219,000 new applications forecast by economists and the second time in eight weeks that they rose.
The four-week average of claims, evening out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 500 to 220,750, and the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the prior week of July 26 rose 38,000 to 1.97 million. That’s the highest level since November 2021.
Weekly applications for unemployment benefits are seen as a proxy for U.S. layoffs and have mostly remained in a historically healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
