US applications for jobless benefits come back down after last week’s 9-month high

By MATT OTT
AP Business Writer

Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain at historically low levels even as other signs that the labor market is cooling have surfaced. Jobless claims for the week ending May 11 fell by 10,000 to 222,000, down from 232,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week’s applications were the most since the final week of August 2023, though it’s still a relatively low number of layoffs. Weekly unemployment claims are considered a proxy for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week and a sign of where the job market is headed.