US applications for jobless benefits fall last week despite elevated uncertainty over Trump tariffs

By MATT OTT Associated Press Business Writer WASHINGTON AP The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week despite heightened uncertainty about how President Donald Trump s tariffs will impact the U S economic activity Jobless claim applications fell by to for the week ending May the Labor Department mentioned Thursday That s in line with the new applications analysts forecast Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs and have mostly bounced around a healthy range between and since COVID- decimated the economic system and wiped out millions of jobs The four-week average of insists which evens out various of the week-to-week gyrations inched up by to The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of April fell to million a decrease of