Applications for unemployment aid fall to 298K

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fewer people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, another sign the job market is improving.<br /> <br /> The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly claims for jobless aid fell 14,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 298,000. The prior week's figures were revised up slightly to 311,000.<br /> <br /> The less-volatile four-week average rose 4,750 to 300,750. It remains close to levels that predate the Great Recession of 2007-2009.<br /> <br /> Applications are a proxy for layoffs.<br /> <br /> Employers aren't just keeping workers. They're hiring at a pace last seen during the tech boom. They added 209,000 jobs in July, the sixth straight month that job gains exceeded 200,000. The economy has generated 244,000 new jobs a month since February.<br /> <br /> The recent hiring has encouraged more people to look for work, causing July's unemployment rate to rise to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent in June. The government counts only people searching for jobs as unemployed.<br /> <br /> Hiring has yet to boost wages by much. Wage growth has slightly outpaced inflation since the recession ended more than five years ago.

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