WASHINGTON – There was a slight increase in the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week, indicating that employers are largely holding onto staff even though there are indicators of an economic slowdown.

According to the Labor Department’s report on Thursday, claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending August 30 increased by 8,000 to reach 237,000. This number exceeded the 231,000 new claims anticipated by economists.

Weekly jobless claims are often used as an indicator of layoffs and have been consistently within a stable range of 200,000 to 250,000 since the nation began recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic approximately four years ago.

Despite low layoff rates, hiring has also slowed, characterizing what many economists refer to as a “no hire, no fire” situation. Yet, the unemployment rate remains at a historically low level of 4.2%.

On Wednesday, it was revealed by governmental data that by the end of July, U.S. companies had 7.2 million job openings, fewer than predicted by economists, marking another indication of weakness in the U.S. job market.

The discouraging job report for July, showing only 73,000 job additions and including significant downward revisions for June and May, caused turmoil in the financial markets last month.

President Donald Trump fired the head of the agency that compiles the monthly data.

The government issues its August jobs report on Friday, with economists expecting that U.S. employers added a slim 80,000 private non-farm jobs.

New jobs numbers are being closely watched on Wall Street and by the Federal Reserve as the most recent government data suggests hiring has slowed sharply since this spring. Job gains have averaged just 35,000 a month in the three months ending in July, barely one-quarter what they were a year ago.

Growth has weakened so far this year as many companies have pulled back on expansion projects amid the uncertainty surrounding the impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Growth slowed to a 1.3% annual rate in the first half of the year, down from 2.5% in 2024.

The sluggishness in the job market is a key reason that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled last week that the central bank may cut its key interest rate at its next meeting Sept. 16-17. A cut could reduce other borrowing costs in the economy, including mortgages, auto loans, and business loans.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 2,500 to 231,000.

The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the previous week of Aug. 23 fell by 4,000 to 1.94 million.