It wasn’t by much, but the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits did go up last week.
Unemployment claims rose by 4,000 to 232,000 for the week of Aug. 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims ticked down by 750 to 236,000.
The level of claims remains at historically low levels.
For the week ending Aug. 10, 1.86 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits, 4,000 more than the week before.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits, which are a proxy for layoffs, remain low by historic standards.
From January through May, claims averaged 213,000 a week. But they started rising in May, hitting 250,000 in late July and adding to evidence that high interest rates are taking a toll on the U.S. job market.
