New applications for unemployment benefits climbed again last week, reaching their highest point since late last year in a sign the tight labor market is slowly loosening.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, rose to a seasonally adjusted 251,000 in the week ended July 16 from 244,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Last week’s claims were above the 2019 prepandemic weekly average of 218,000, when the labor market was also strong, and at their highest since last November.
