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 commercial sector Jobless claim applications fell by to for the week ending May the Labor Department noted 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 financial sector and wiped out millions of jobs The four-week average of contends which evens out selected 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