US unemployment benefit applications rose 16,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, although the level remains consistent with steady hiring.
The US Labour Department said today that the less volatile four-week average increased 6,000 to 351,750.
The weekly applications data can be volatile in early July because some car makers briefly shut down their factories to prepare for new models and many schools close. Those factors can create a temporary spike in layoffs.
But the broader trend has been favourable. Applications have declined steadily in the past year, as companies have laid off fewer workers and stepped up hiring.
In the past six months, employers have added an average of 202,000 jobs a month. That is up from an average of 180,000 in the previous six months. Employers added 195,000 jobs in June, and revisions showed that an additional 70,000 jobs were added in the previous two months.
The unemployment rate was 7.6%, down from 8.2% a year earlier. Applications fell to their lowest level since the recession began in the April-June quarter, economists have calculated.
They averaged 346,000 a week in the second quarter - the lowest quarterly average since it was 338,000 in the final three months of 2007, when the Great Recession began.
About 4.5 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ending June 22, the latest data available. That is about 50,000 fewer than the previous week. It is also 23% lower than a year ago, when there were nearly 5.9 million recipients.
Some of those who no longer receive benefits have gotten jobs, but many have simply used up all the benefits available.
More hiring could help the US economy grow faster later this year. The economy expanded at an annual rate of just 1.8% in the three months from January to March. Most analysts think it slowed even further in the second quarter, to about 1% to 1.5%.
More hiring means more Americans are earning paychecks, which boosts income and potentially fuels more spending.
Figures show that average hourly wages rose 2.2% in June compared to a year earlier, ahead of the 1.4% inflation rate. Pay gains have started to outpace inflation this year, after barely keeping pace since the recession ended four years ago. That has helped push consumer confidence to a more than five year high.
Greater consumer confidence is also helping drive up sales of homes and cars. From January to June, car sales reached their highest total for the first half of the year since 2007. And sales of previously occupied homes topped 5 million in May for the first time in over three years.
US retailers report strong gains for June
US retailers are reporting their strongest sales gains since January for June, as shoppers, enticed by warm weather and an improving economy, took advantage of summer discounts.
The data offers encouraging signs for the back-to-school season, which gets under way later this month.
Revenue at stores opened at least a year - an industry measure of a store's health - rose 3.9% in June compared with the same month a year ago, according to a preliminary tally of 12 retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centres.
The mall trade group had expected an increase of 3-3.5%. Revenue had risen by 3.4% in May.
Among the retailers reporting stronger than expected sales gains are Costco., Fred's and Stein Mart.
