Applications for US jobless benefits rise modestly, but continuing claims are most in 2 years

Slightly more Americans filed for jobless claims last week, but the overall number of people in the U.S. collecting unemployment benefits rose to its highest level in two years

Unemployment Benefits (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Slightly more Americans filed for jobless claims last week, pushing the overall number of people in the U.S. collecting unemployment benefits to its highest level in two years.

Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 7,000 to 218,000 for the week ending Nov. 25, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.

However, overall, 1.93 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Nov. 18, about 86,000 more than the previous week and the most in two years. Continuing claims have risen in nine of the past 10 weeks.

The four-week moving average of jobless claim applications, which flattens out some of weekly volatility, fell by 500 to 220,000.