Job seekers attend a career fair in Manhattan.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- More people filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week, signaling little improvement in the job market in August.
About 372,000 people filed jobless claims in the week ended August 18, up 4,000 from the previous week, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
Rising jobless claims are often considered a sign of more layoffs in the economy. The number has risen for the last two weeks.
This report is seen as a key predictor of monthly job creation in August, since it coincides with the Labor Department's survey of 60,000 households, which was also conducted last week. In July, that survey showed more Americans said they were without a job, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.3%.
Related: Check the unemployment rate in your state
Meanwhile, a separate survey of businesses showed the economy added 163,000 jobs last month.
So far, it looks as if hiring may have hung around that level in August, but we won't know for sure until the Labor Department releases its monthly jobs report on September 7.
About 12.8 million people remained unemployed as of July.
No comments:
Post a Comment