U.S. applications for jobless aid rise last week

By MATT OTT
AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week but remains historically low even as the U.S. economy slows in the midst of decades-high inflation. Jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 8 rose by 9,000 to 228,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average ticked up by 5,000 by to 211,500. Considered a proxy for layoffs, applications for jobless aid have remained historically low since the initial purge of more than 20 million jobs at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020.