Applications for jobless claims fall for 3rd straight week

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell for third straight week. That’s good news for American workers, but potentially bad news in the fight against inflation by the Federal Reserve, which has been ratcheting up its benchmark interest rate for a year in an effort to cool the economy, loosen the labor market and tame inflation.

Applications for jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending February 25 fell to 190,000 from 192,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. It’s the seventh straight week claims were under 200,000.

The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 1,750 to 193,000, remaining below the 200,000 threshold for the sixth straight week.

Applications for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for the number layoffs in the U.S.

About 1.66 million people were receiving jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 18, a decrease of 5,000 from the week before.