WASHINGTON — Applications for unemployment aid have been fluctuating from week to week, offering an uncertain view of layoffs and the job market.
First-time requests for jobless aid dropped last week to their lowest level since early May, the government said Thursday, erasing increases made in the past two months.
Still, economists say it’s hard to detect a trend in one week of declines. Initial claims have seesawed for several weeks and are not much lower than they were in January.
Elevated unemployment claims, along with last month’s weak jobs report and a struggling housing market, have suggested that the recovery is slowing.
“While the report is good news, it would need to be followed up by several more weeks to suggest a pickup in hiring,” Julia Coronado, an economist at BNP Paribas, said in a note to clients.
Meanwhile, the total number of unemployed Americans receiving benefits is dropping sharply because their aid is ending. About 350,000 people saw their benefits cut off in the week of June 19 because Congress left for a week-long recess without extending federal jobless aid.
The Labor Department estimates that about 1.7 million people have lost benefits as of last week, after extended unemployment insurance expired in late May. That number could reach 3.3 million by the end of the month if Congress doesn’t pass an extension after it returns from recess next week.
Initial jobless claims fell by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 454,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average of claims dropped slightly to 466,000 last week.
