WASHINGTON - The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign that layoffs are easing and hiring may pick up. Meanwhile, the government also reports slightly fewer housing starts in October.
The Labor Department says weekly applications dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000. It was the fourth decline in five weeks.
The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 396,750.
That's the first time the average been below 400,000 in seven months.
Applications need to consistently drop below 375,000 to signal sustained job gains. They haven't been that low since February.
The total number of people receiving benefits also fell to the lowest level since Sept. 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.
HOUSING STARTS
U.S. builders started slightly fewer homes in October but submitted plans for a wave of apartments, a mixed sign for the struggling housing market.
Builders broke ground on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000 homes last month, down 0.3 percent from September. That's roughly half the 1.2 million homes that economists say must be built to sustain a healthy housing market.
Building permits, a gauge of future construction, rose nearly 11 percent. The increase was spurred by a 30 percent increase in apartment permits, which reached its highest level in three years.
New-home construction and sales are in the midst of one of its worst years in history. Demand for new homes is weak and historically-low mortgage rates and plunging home prices have done little to help.
Sunday
July 13th, 2025
10:29AM
