New applications for unemployment benefits inched down last week, a sign the labor market is holding up as 1659061404?mod=article_inline" rel="noopener noreferer" target="_blank" class="wsj-1h1us5y-StyledLink exk4ewm0">the broader economy shows signs of slowing.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, declined slightly to a seasonally adjusted 250,000 last week from a downwardly revised 252,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Claims totals have hovered around this level since hitting a high for the year in mid-July, and are above the 2019 prepandemic weekly average of 218,000.