The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dipped slightly last week, with 215,000 new applications, according to the Labor Department. This decrease in jobless claims suggests that layoffs in the US remain at historically healthy levels.
Job Market Overview
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs and are a close indicator of the health of the US job market. The recent decrease in jobless claims is a positive sign, despite the government reporting that employers pulled back on hiring in June, adding only 57,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, although this decline is mostly due to many out-of-work people giving up on looking for jobs and no longer being counted as unemployed. Companies such as Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks, and Walmart have recently trimmed their workforces, with Microsoft cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
