The number of Americans requesting unemployment benefits increased last week, reaching the highest level in nine months.
This is the most recent indication that the extraordinarily tight labor market is beginning to loosen up.
According to data from the Labor Department released last week, applications increased to 262,000 for the week ending August 6 from the revised 248,000 applications recorded the week prior.
That represents the highest number since the middle of November and is higher than the 2019 pre-pandemic average of 218,000 claims.
The number of Americans getting unemployment benefits on a regular basis, known as continuing claims, increased by 8,000 from the previous week’s revised total to 1.428 million for the week ending July 30.
Almost 12.96 million Americans were getting jobless benefits a year ago.
