Washington, Sep 7 (AP) The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in seven months with labor market seemingly resistent to the higher interest rates put in to place, in part to cool hiring.

U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 216,000 for the week ending Sept. 2, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

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The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 8,500 to 229,250.

Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.

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Overall, 1.68 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended August 26, about 40,000 fewer than the previous week.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)