Weekly jobless claims dipped last week
WASHINGTON - Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week, the third straight drop in a sign that the job market remains healthy despite a recent slowdown in hiring.
The Labor Department says that weekly applications for unemployment aid dipped 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 276,750.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the decline in jobless aid suggests that companies are confident enough to hold onto their workers. When layoffs are low, hiring is typically steady. Employers added 160,000 jobs in April, a slowdown from prior monthly job growth that averaged more than 200,000.
Applications have been below 300,000, a historically low level, for 65 weeks, the longest such streak since 1973.