WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week, the latest evidence that an economic slowdown earlier this year hasn’t caused employers to cut jobs.
Weekly applications fell 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000, the Labor Department said. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose 2,000 to 314,000.
The average has fallen 9 percent since Jan. 1.
The figures came a day after the government said the economy shrank at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year.
The low level of applications indicates employers haven’t been rattled by the first quarter’s dismal showing, which many economists have partly blamed on bad weather. Instead, they are hiring at a healthy pace. Employers added 217,000 jobs in May, the fourth straight month of gains above 200,000.
The unemployment rate remained 6.3 percent in May, the lowest in over five years.
Other data also suggest the economy has recovered from the first quarter. Factory output is rising, auto sales have reached a nine-year high, and businesses are ordering more equipment.
Most analysts forecast the economy will expand at a 3.5 percent annual rate or higher in the April-June quarter.