Fewer Americans seeks unemployment aid for 3rd week

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 10,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, a sign that employers are laying off very few workers.

The Labor Department said today that the four-week average rose 8,000 to 356,250, the highest since April. The 16-day partial government shutdown and backlogs in California due to computer upgrades inflated the average.

Still, a government spokesman said those unusual factors did not affect last week's first-time applications, which appeared to be free of distortions for the first time in two months.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have fallen for three straight weeks and are just above the pre-recession levels reached in August.

Fewer applications are typically followed by more job gains. But hiring has slowed in recent months, rather than accelerated.