Weekly US applications for jobless benefits slide to lowest level in 5 months

By MATT OTT
AP Business Writer

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits slid last week to its lowest level in five months, further evidence that the U.S. labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve’s attempts to cool it off. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 to 221,000 for the week ending July 22, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the fewest since February. Jobless claim applications are broadly seen as a proxy for the number of layoffs in a given week. Overall, 1.69 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended July 15, about 59,000 fewer than the previous week and the fewest since January.