New applications for unemployment benefits held near the highest level of the year last week, a sign that the tight labor market is loosening.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 256,000 in the week ended July 23 from the prior week’s upwardly revised level, the Labor Department said Thursday. The prior week’s reading was revised up by 10,000 and was the highest level of claims since November.
