The number of Americans applying for jobless aid last week retreated significantly after surging to a nearly four-year high a week earlier. U.S. filings for unemployment benefits for the week ending Sept. 13 fell by 33,000 to 231,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s less than the 241,000 analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. The previous week, applications surged to 264,000, their highest level since the week of Oct. 23, 2021. Last week’s figure was revised up by 1,000. The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the previous week of Sept. 6 fell by 7,000 to 1.92 million.
