labor department statistics

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits was unchanged last week at 370,000, a number low enough to suggest steady gains in the job market. Applications for benefits are near the lowest levels in four years.

U.S. consumer prices were flat last month as cheaper gas offset modest increases for food, clothing and housing. The data indicate that inflation remains in check.

The number of people seeking unemployment aid neared a four-year low last week, a positive sign that strong hiring could continue in the coming months. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 358,000. That's the second-lowest level since April 2008.

Employers went on a hiring spree in January and drove down the unemployment rate for a fifth straight month to 8.3 percent, its lowest point in nearly three years. The result pointed to a resurgent job market, and it sent stock futures surging. The Dow Jones industrial average futures, which were flat before the report, jumped 95 points.

The unemployment rate fell last month in 39 states, evidence that companies are feeling more confident about the U.S. economy. Nationally, businesses have added more than 250,000 jobs per month, on average, in the past three months -- their fastest hiring spree in five years.

Two sets of labor statistics data, released this week, point to a divergence between the job-openings rate and the total number of employees on nonfarm payrolls. And that divergence may well serve as a leading indicator for the labor market as a whole.

In January, job creation was anemic, yet unemployment plummeted. What gives? The answer lies in the quirky way the government decides who gets counted as part of the work force, who gets counted as officially unemployed and who gets left out of the picture.

Initial jobless claims dropped by 34,000 to 407,000, much lower than expected. The numbers suggest that the labor market is slowly improving, and nearing the point of reversing the negative trend driven by the deep recession.

Just call this week%u2019s labor report a wash: Initial jobless claims unexpectedly jumped 13,000 to 462,000, but continuing claims plunged another 112,000, and the trend in state-level claims continues to provide evidence that the period of layoffs is subsiding.

The number of U.S. job openings in July increased 30% from a year earlier, signaling that companies may be starting to hire again, according to the U.S. Labor Department.