WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. jobless claim applications rose last week but remain at historically low levels despite elevated inflation and other economic headwinds.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 2 rose by 10,000 to 200,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 205,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.
The previous week’s new claims figure, which was the fewest since 1969, was revised up by 1,000 to 190,000.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly ups and downs, fell to 203,250, down 4,500 from the previous week.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 25 declined by 10,000 to 1.77 million.
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