WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans
seeking unemployment benefits fell only slightly last week to a
seasonally adjusted 382,000.
The level suggests hiring remains weak.
The
Labor Department said Thursday that applications declined 3,000 from
the previous week, which was revised up. The four-week average, a less
volatile measure, rose for a fifth week to 377,750, highest level in
nearly three months.
Applications were skewed
higher two weeks ago by fallout from Hurricane Isaac. A Labor Department
spokesman said there were no special factors in the latest week.
Weekly
applications are a measure of the pace of layoffs. When they
consistently top 375,000, it typically suggests hiring is too weak to
lower the unemployment rate.
Employers added
only 96,000 jobs last month, below the 141,000 in July and much lower
than the average 226,000 added the first three months of the year.
Recent job gains are barely enough to keep up with the growth of the
working age population and aren't enough to rapidly drive down
unemployment.
The unemployment rate dropped in
August to 8.1% from 8.3%, but only because the number of people working
or looking for work fell.
A separate monthly
report from the Labor Department earlier this month showed that layoffs
were at the lowest level in July in the 11 years the government has
tracked the data.
The economy isn't growing
fast enough to support much more hiring. It grew at a tepid 1.7% annual
rate in the April-June quarter, down from 2% in the January-March
quarter and 4.1% in the final three months of last year.
Growth
isn't likely to get much better for the rest of this year. Economists
expect it to grow at a roughly 2% pace. That's typically too weak to
create enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate.
High
unemployment and sluggish growth prompted the Federal Reserve to
announce several major steps to boost the economy last week. Chairman
Ben Bernanke said the Fed will buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed
securities a month until there is "substantial" improvement in the job
market.
Bernanke said at a news conference that high unemployment is "a grave concern" that causes "enormous suffering."
Associated Press