WASHINGTON: A modest number of Americans filed new claims for US unemployment insurance benefits last week, fresh evidence of steady improvement in the jobs market, government data showed Thursday.
Initial jobless claims, a sign of the level of layoffs, held near a three-month low for the second week running, the Labor Department said.
Claims were unchanged at 254,000 in the week ending July 9 from the prior week's unrevised level. Claims have held below 300,000 for 71 straight weeks, the longest streak since 1973.
The economy added a robust 287,000 jobs in June, quelling concerns about a broader US economic slowdown. Monthly job growth has slowed this year from the 2015 pace but remains strong enough to keep the unemployment rate declining, analysts said. It was 4.9 percent last month.
The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims fell last week by 5,750 to 259,000. A year ago it was 280,250.
"We see no reason to expect any change in the trend, which remains extraordinarily low," said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"But low claims are not alone enough to ensure big payroll gains every month, because they tell us nothing about short-term shifts in hiring."
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