Applications for US unemployment benefits rise to still-low 270000

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, rose by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 270,000 in the week ended August 1, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Jobless claims ticked up slightly last week but remain near record-low levels, reflecting a healthy labor market.

“Initial claims for unemployment insurance have been below 300,000 for 22 straight weeks, the longest such stretch since 1973”, said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services.

Claims are volatile during the summer when automakers usually shut assembly plants for annual retooling.

The four-week average fell by 6,500 to 268,250, and that is the third weekly decline.

Traders may stay on the sidelines on the day, as the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report due to be released on Friday could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates. Companies in the U.S. added 185,000 workers to payrolls in July, after a revised 229,000 increase in June, figures from the ADP Research Institute in Roseland, New Jersey, showed Wednesday. Though job growth has slowed from last year’s brisk pace, many economists say the labor market is approaching full employment. The U.S. dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies.

Throughout the year, falling unemployment has been one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy.

Employers have added an average of 221,000 jobs a month in the past three months, driving down the unemployment rate to a seven-year low of 5.3 percent. The majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg in July favored a September lift-off.

Employers in the technology sector, including Microsoft, Qualcomm and Intel Corp, announced 18,891 job cuts in July.