According to the Associated Press, U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week as companies held on to employees in an economy that has largely withstood rapidly rising interest rates for more than a year.
The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell by 4,000 to 228,000 the week ending Aug. 26, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 250 to 237,500.
Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week. The Federal Reserve, in its now year-and-a-half battle against inflation, has raised interest rates 11 times to 5.4%, the highest level in 22 years.
Economists believe U.S. employers added 170,000 jobs in August. The Labor Department will issue official monthly jobs numbers Friday.
Many businesses struggled to replenish their workforces after cutting jobs during the pandemic, and a sizable amount of the ongoing hiring likely reflects efforts by firms to catch up to elevated levels of consumer demand that emerged since the pandemic recession.
While the manufacturing, warehousing, and retail industries have slowed their hiring in recent months, they aren’t yet cutting jobs in large numbers.
Overall, 1.73 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Aug. 19, about 28,000 more than the previous week.
