Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the level remains near historic lows that point to a healthy job market.
The Labor Department says applications for jobless aid rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000. The less volatile four-week average rose 3,000 to 278,750.
Layoffs generally tend to rise in the early weeks of January as retailers let go of holiday workers, but even on an unadjusted basis jobless claims are lower than a year ago.
Weekly jobless claims have stayed below 300,000 for the past 10 months, a sign that employers are holding onto workers and possibly looking to expand their staff.
The government employment report released last Friday showed that employers added a net 292,000 jobs in December as the unemployment rate held at 5 percent.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
