Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the Associated Press reports, as employers appear to be retaining workers despite a marked economic slowdown.
Jobless benefits claims were down 5,000 to 229,000 for the week ending Aug. 23, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week swings, rose by 2,500 to 228,500.
The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the previous week of Aug. 16 fell 7,000 to 1.95 million, down from nearly a four-year high reached earlier this month, the Labor Department said.Â
The stubbornly high number of people continuing to collect jobless aid suggests that once out of work, many Americans are having trouble finding new jobs.
