The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years.
U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending August 1 rose by 1,000 to 199,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 198,000.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.
Last week, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric, PCE, came in at 3.7% for June, still well above the U.S. central bank’s 2% target. If inflation remains elevated, Fed officials say they are ready to raise interest rates to combat higher prices, raising costs for businesses and making them less likely to hire.
Last month, the government reported that employers pulled back on hiring in June, adding only 57,000 jobs. That’s less than half the previous month’s total and a sign that companies remain cautious about adding to their head counts. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, though that decline is mostly because many out-of-work people gave up looking for jobs and were no longer counted as unemployed.
June’s tepid hiring comes after a relative surge in job gains the previous three months, countering concerns that the conflict in Iran could trip up an already wobbly labor market. The government’s July jobs report is due out Friday.
Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.
Among the companies that have trimmed their workforce recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks, Walmart and Microsoft.
The Labor Department’s report Thursday also showed that the four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims, which balances out some of the weekly volatility, fell by 4,500 to 198,750.
The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending July 25 was 1.8 million, an increase of 24,000 from the week before.
FILE - A now hiring sign is seen in front of an auto body shop in Chicago, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)
BEIRUT (AP) — Two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon, Israel's military said Thursday, the first Israeli deaths since a shaky truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began nearly two months ago.
Four other soldiers were seriously wounded, the military said. An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the army's policy, said that “an explosion was detonated” when the soldiers entered a site in the village of Majdal Zoun and that the nature of the explosive was under review.
Israeli media reported the two deaths a day earlier.
The Israeli army launched strikes Wednesday in southern Lebanon in response to what it described as Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire and called on residents of the village of Mansouri to flee — the first such warning Israel has issued in Lebanon for weeks.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 12 wounded in an Israeli strike in the town of Tebnine Wednesday and another eight wounded in overnight strikes on the village of Burj al-Shemali. Artillery shelling also targeted the areas of Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, the state-run National News Agency said.
There was no statement from the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets across the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran. More than 4,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since then, including hundreds of civilians. About 40 soldiers and three civilians — including a military contractor — have been killed on the Israeli side.
A precarious truce between Israel and Hezbollah has largely held since June 20, but Israeli forces have continued to occupy swaths of southern Lebanon and to carry out periodic airstrikes and shelling.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL said it had recorded 113 projectiles launched by the Israeli military on Wednesday, the highest number recorded since June 21.
The latest escalation came as Lebanese and Israeli negotiators met in Rome to discuss implementation of a June 26 deal reached between Israel and the Lebanese government under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to take control, in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament.
Hezbollah has refused to disarm and opposed the direct Lebanon-Israel talks. It was not a party to the deal. The group has accused the Lebanese government of making too many concessions without guaranteeing an Israeli withdrawal.
Wednesday’s talks ended early due to the escalation on the ground, but resumed on Thursday.
The talks in Rome have focused on implementation of “pilot zones” where Israeli forces would withdraw and the Lebanese army would take control. Implementation began last month with an initial pilot zone in an area that wasn’t occupied by Israeli forces but had previously sustained Israeli fire.
The Lebanese army entered the town of Zawtar al-Gharbieh and some civilians returned, although many came only to find their homes destroyed and left again.
A diplomat familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly said earlier this week that Lebanon had asked for the next pilot zone to be either in the town of Khiam or Bint Jbeil. Both areas saw heavy fighting in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war and are currently occupied by Israeli forces.
But U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa suggested ahead of the three-day talks that no new pilot zones would be immediately implemented, saying that “moving too quickly risks jeopardizing the very civilians this process is meant to protect.”
Saeed reported from Herzliya, Israel. Associated Press writer Maria Grazia Murru in Rome contributed to this report.
A man checks the site of a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Burj al-Shamali, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A man removes a damaged scooter from the debris of a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the village of Burj al-Shamali, southern Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A Lebanese man removes debris from his destroyed house in the village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A Lebanese family takes shade under the damaged solar panels of their destroyed house in the village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Israeli tanks, left, stationed among homes in the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, occupied by Israeli forces, is seen from the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A Lebanese man sits outside his damaged house in the village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Israeli military vehicles, left, are seen stationed among homes in the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, occupied by Israeli forces, is seen from the southern village of Zawtar al-Gharbieh, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
