According to the US Department of Labor, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits for the first time increased by 4 thousand to 232 thousand in the last week. It was previously reported about 227 thousand applications last week, but revised data show that this number was 228 thousand. Analysts predicted an increase in the number of applications to 232,000. Despite this, the indicator remains significantly higher than the average for the current year. The average number of applications for benefits over the past 4 weeks, which is a more stable indicator, decreased to 236 thousand from 236.75 thousand a week earlier. The number of Americans continuing to receive unemployment benefits for the week ended August 10 increased to 1.863 million people, compared with a revised 1.859 million a week earlier.
