WASHINGTON -- Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. But even with the modest increase, the total number of people collecting aid -- pulled down steadily for months -- fell to nearly a 15-year low.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose 3,000 to 265,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell 4,250 to 279,500, the lowest level since May 2000.
The total number of people receiving benefits was 2.23 million, the lowest figure since November 2000. That figure has fallen by more than 20 percent over the past 12 months. This suggests that employers are holding onto workers despite barely any economic growth in the first three months of the year.
Weekly applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have stayed below 300,000 for the past two months, which usually indicates additional hiring on the expectation of business improving.
"Claims at these types of levels would be consistent with a strong payroll number," said Ray Stone, an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, N.J. Joblessness claims "are the most timely indicator of labor-market conditions, so on the margin things look pretty good."
U.S. economic growth practically flat-lined in the first quarter, but employers appear to have only tapped the brakes on hiring so far.
The economy improved at a scant 0.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of the year, the government said last week. This was a severe deceleration from the 3.6 percent pace in the final six months of last year, although it corresponds with a similar slowdown at the start of 2014 caused by winter storms.
The meager growth trickled into weaker hiring in March. Employers added just 126,000 jobs that month, ending a yearlong streak of monthly gains above 200,000. The unemployment rate remained 5.5 percent.
Still, the low levels of layoffs indicate "that report's weakness may have been a blip in an otherwise solid trend," said Derek Lindsey, an analyst at BNP Paribas.
Economists expect a rebound in the government's April jobs report to be released today. They anticipate that 222,500 workers were hired, causing the unemployment rate to slip to 5.4 percent, according to FactSet.
But a private survey raised concerns that hiring might have struggled for a second straight month. Payroll processor ADP said that businesses added just 169,000 jobs in April, down from 175,000 in March.
Another report Thursday showed consumer confidence declined last week to a two-month low.
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index decreased to 43.7 in the week ended May 3, the fourth straight decline, from 44.7 the prior period. Sentiment among those making less than $15,000 a year slumped by the most since January 2011. For those earning more than $100,000, it held above 70 for a fifth week, the longest such streak in eight years.
The difference in sentiment between those at opposite ends of the income scale was 50.5 points, the second-biggest gap since November 2007.
Information for this article was contributed by Josh Boak of The Associated Press and by Victoria Stilwell and Jordan Yadoo of Bloomberg News.
Business on 05/08/2015