(AP) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to a six-month low last week as layoffs remain at relatively healthy levels.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims fell by 4,000 to 217,000 for the week of Nov. 9. This is less than the 225,000 analysts forecast.

The four-week average of weekly claims, which evens out some of the weekly increases and decreases, decreased by 6,250 to 221,000.

Weekly claims for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs in the United States in a given week.

In response to weakening jobs data and falling consumer prices, the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate. in September half a percentage point and another quarter point last week.

The central bank is no longer focused on controlling inflation but on supporting the labor market, with the aim of achieving a rare “soft landing”, through which it will bring down inflation without triggering a recession.

The half-point rate cut in September was the Fed’s first rate cut in four years after a series of hikes starting in 2022 that pushed the federal funds rate to a record high of 5.3% in two decades.

Despite a slight slight increase in OctoberInflation has fallen steadily over the past two years, moving closer to the Fed’s 2% target and leading Chairman Jerome Powell to declare recently that it was largely under control.

Two weeks ago, the government announced that an inflation gauge closely watched by the Fed fell to its lowest level in three and a half years.

During the first four months of 2024, applications for unemployment benefits averaged just 213,000 per week before increasing in May. They reached 250,000 in late July, confirming the idea that high interest rates were finally cooling a red-hot U.S. labor market.

In October, the American economy produced a measly 12,000 jobsalthough economists have pointed to recent strikes and hurricanes that have temporarily kept many workers out of wages.

The Labor Department reported in August that the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs between April 2023 and March of this year than initially reported. The revised total is also seen as evidence that the job market is steadily slowing, forcing the Fed to start cutting interest rates.

Continuing claims, the total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits, fell to 1.87 million for the week of Nov. 2, in line with analysts’ expectations.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.