Applications for US unemployment aid fall to 287K

Slightly fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, pushing the average number of applications in the past month to an 8-year low. The US Labour Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 287,000 in the week ended Oct. 4. That is the 4th 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 per cent 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 4-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, dropped 7,250 to 287,750, the lowest level since February 2006, nearly 2 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 2 months was healthier than previously believed, the government said last week. That helped push the unemployment rate down to 5.9p, a 6-year low. The number of people receiving benefits has also fallen steadily to just 2.38 million in the week ended Sept. 27, the latest data available. That is the fewest since May 2006. Many former recipients have gotten jobs. But another key reason for the drop is that many of the long-term unemployed are no longer eligible. Jobless aid lasts for 26 weeks in most states. The number of available jobs soared to a 13-year high in August, according to a separate government report on Tuesday, according to a news agency.