New applications for unemployment benefits inched down last week, a sign the labor market is holding up as the broader economy shows signs of slowing.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, declined slightly to a seasonally adjusted 250,000 last week from a downwardly revised 252,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Claims totals have hovered around this level since hitting a high for the year in mid-July, and are above the 2019 prepandemic weekly average of 218,000.
