Applications for unemployment benefits decline

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits dropped 8,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 287,000, as the total number of beneficiaries dropped to its lowest level in more than eight years.

The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, fell 4,250 to 294,750, the Labor Department said Thursday. Overall, 2.3 million people are receiving jobless aid. That’s the fewest since June 2006, which predates the start of the Great Recession by 18 months.

“The numbers are so low now that it seems just a matter of time before we see a run of big gains” in monthly hiring figures, said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. The recent decline suggests that employers are keeping their workers, likely because they expect continued economic growth and may be contemplating more hires.