New applications for unemployment benefits rose for the third week in a row, amid separate signs that the U.S. labor market remains unusually tight.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, increased by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 218,000 last week from the previous week’s revised level of 197,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Despite the recent rise, claims remain historically low with last week’s figure matching the 2019 average ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic.
