Jobless-aid applications fall to 287,000

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Slightly fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, pushing the average number of applications in the past month to an eight-year low.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 287,000 in the week ending Oct. 4. That is the fourth-straight week that applications have been below 300,000, a clear sign of a job market on the mend.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have fallen 9 percent in the past month. That suggests employers are keeping their workers, likely because they expect continued economic growth and may be contemplating more hires.

The four-week average of applications, a less-volatile measure, dropped 7,250 to 287,750, the lowest level since February 2006, nearly two years before the Great Recession began.

The decline in applications has corresponded with robust hiring. Employers added 248,000 jobs last month, and hiring in the previous two months was healthier than previously believed, the government said last week. That helped push the unemployment rate down to 5.9 percent, a six-year low.