WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� U.S. applications for jobless benefits tumbled to the lowest level in decades last week as layoffs remain historically low despite global economic uncertainty.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the week ending July 18 declined by 22,000 to 187,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That鈥檚 well below the 215,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.
The four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims, which adjusts for volatility, fell by 7,250 to 207,500.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending July 11 was down by 2,000 to just under 1.8 million, also a historically healthy figure.
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