CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Weekly applications for U.S.
unemployment benefits ticked up slightly last week, the latest sign of
stability in the job market.
The Labor Department said Thursday that applications rose
4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 371,000, the most in five weeks. The four-week
average, a less volatile measure, increased 6,750 to 365,750, after falling to
a four-year low the previous week.
A department spokesman says all states reported data and
none were estimated. In the previous two weeks, many states were estimated
because they weren't able to report data over the holidays.
Weekly applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have
fluctuated for most of the past 12 months between 360,000 and 390,000. At the
same time, job growth has been modest but steady.
Employers added 155,000 jobs in December, the department
said last week, while the unemployment rate remained 7.8 percent. The gain in
hiring nearly matched the average of 153,000 jobs per month in 2011 and 2012.
That's just been enough to slowly push down the unemployment rate, which fell
0.7 percentage points in 2012.
December's steady job gain suggests employers didn't cut
back on hiring in the midst of the debate over the tax and spending changes
known as the fiscal cliff. Many economists feared that the prospect of higher
taxes and steep cuts in federal spending would cause a slowdown in job gains.
That's a good sign, since more budget showdowns are
expected. Congress must vote to raise the government's $16.4 trillion borrowing
limit by around late February. If not, the government risks defaulting on its
debt. Republicans will likely demand deep spending cuts as the price of raising
the debt limit.
Still, hiring is too weak to rapidly reduce the number of
unemployed, which stands at 12.2 million. That's far higher than the 7.6
million who were out of work when the Great Recession began in December 2007.
There are signs the economy is improving. The once-battered
housing market is recovering, which should lead to more construction jobs in
the coming months. A gauge of U.S.
service firms' business activity expanded in December by the most in nearly a
year. Auto sales for 2012 were the best in five years. And Americans spent more
at the end of the crucial holiday shopping season.
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