WASHINGTON – The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 10,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, a sign that employers are laying off very few workers.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the four-week average rose 8,000 to 356,250, the highest since April. The 16-day partial government shutdown and backlogs in California because of computer upgrades inflated the average.
Still, a government spokesman said those unusual factors did not affect last week's first-time applications, which appeared to be free of distortions for the first time in two months.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have fallen for three weeks and are just above the pre-recession levels reached in August.
Fewer applications are typically followed by more job gains. But hiring has slowed in recent months, rather than accelerated.
The economy added an average 143,000 jobs a month from July through September. That's down from an average of 182,000 in April through June, and 207,000 during the first three months of the year.
"A larger concern remains over firms not willing to accelerate hiring as the lean workforce does not leave much room left for firing," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas.
Nearly 3.9 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ended Oct. 12, the latest data available. That's about 40,000 more than the previous week. But a year ago, more than 5 million people were receiving unemployment aid.
