Washington – Applications for unemployment benefits, after hitting a two- month high, edged down slightly last week, signaling that the labor market remains generally healthy.
The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits totaled 339,000 last week, a drop of 4,000 from the previous week, when claims had surged.
The big increase in claims for the week ending April 7 had been discounted as more related to trouble adjusting the data for the Easter holiday than to any fundamental weakness in the labor market.
The decline in last week’s applications was significantly smaller than the drop of around 20,000 that had been expected. But economists insisted the labor market remains fundamentally sound even with economic growth slowing over the past 12 months in the face of a slumping housing market and weakness in auto manufacturing.
“We continue to believe that labor demand remains healthy,” said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.
Even in the midst of the economic slowdown, the unemployment rate dipped in March to 4.4 percent, matching a five-year low, as employers boosted hiring by 180,000 workers.
