Ahead of the Bell: US Unemployment Benefits
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The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits likely remained at relatively low levels last week, suggesting that steady job gains will continue.
Economists forecast that applications ticked down by 1,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 345,000, according to a survey by FactSet. The Labor Department will release the report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs. Any decline suggests that companies are cutting fewer jobs. Since November, applications have fallen about 7 percent. The less volatile four-week average fell to 338,000 in early May, the lowest since 2008, though it has risen since then.
Last week, the department said employers added 175,000 jobs in May, nearly matching the average monthly gain for the past year. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent, but for a good reason: More Americans were confident they could find work and began searching for a job.
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