Slightly fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, reflecting a robust job market despite rising job cuts in some sectors of the economy that have cooled in recent months
Applications for jobless aid for the week ending June 25 fell to 231,000, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported this morning. First-time applications generally represent the number of layoffs.
The four-week average for claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 7,250 from the previous week, to 231,750.
The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits for the week ending June 18 was 1,328,000, down 3,000 from the previous week. That figure has hovered near 50-year lows for months. Read more.
