The number of people filing for unemployment benefits edged down last week, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
Initial jobless claims declined to 215,000 from the upwardly revised 217,000 in the prior week. Economists had forecast 219,000 new claims.
New claims are a proxy for layoffs. Over the past six months, very few Americans have lost their jobs, defying predictions of widespread job losses to artificial intelligence.
Continuing claims, which are reported with a week’s delay, came in at 1.81 million in the week through June 27, an increase of 8,000 from a downwardly revised estimate released last week.
The labor market’s strength has been a source of resilience for the U.S. economy throughout the Iran war oil shock.
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