US applications for jobless claims fall to lowest level in 9 weeks

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market continues to hold up despite higher interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve in its bid to curb inflation.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims for the week ending April 20 fell by 5,000 to 207,000 from 212,000 the previous week. That's the fewest since mid-February.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out some of the weekly up-and-downs, ticked down by 1,250 to 213,250.

Weekly unemployment claims are considered a proxy for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week and a sign of where the job market is headed. They have remained at historically low levels since the pandemic purge of millions of jobs in the spring of 2020.

In total, 1.78 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended April 13. That's 15,000 fewer than the previous week.

Matt Ott, The Associated Press