The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits ticked higher last week, hitting the highest level in nine months.
上周，美国首次申请失业救济的人数上升，达九个月来最高水平。
Figures released Thursday by the Labor Department show that applications for the week ended Aug. 6 rose to 262,000 from the downwardly revised 248,000 recorded a week earlier. That is above the 2019 pre-pandemic average of 218,000 claims and marks the highest level since mid-November.
美国劳工部8月11日公布的数据显示，截至8月6日的一周，首次申请失业救济人数从前一周的24.8万上升至26.2万，高于疫情前21.8万的平均水平，是自2021年11月中旬以来的最高水平。
Continuing claims, or the number of Americans who are consecutively receiving unemployment aid, rose slightly to 1.428 million for the week ended July 30, up by 8,000 from the previous week's revised level. One year ago, nearly 12.96 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits.
在截至7月30日的一周内，持续申领失业救济金的人数小幅上升至142.8万，较此前一周增加了8000人。2021年，近1296万美国人申领失业救济金。
For months, the labor market has been one of the few bright spots in the economy, with the July jobs report showing that the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% – the lowest level since February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down a broad swath of the US economy.
几个月来，劳动力市场一直是美国经济为数不多的亮点之一，7月份就业报告显示，失业率降至3.5%，这是自新冠疫情重创美国经济以来的最低水平。
However, there are signs that the labor market is starting to weaken, with a plethora of companies, including Alphabet's Google, Walmart, Apple, meta and Microsoft, announcing hiring freezes or layoffs in recent weeks.
然而，有迹象表明劳动力市场开始疲软，包括谷歌母公司Alphabet、沃尔玛、苹果、meta和微软在内的众多公司都在最近几周宣布停止招聘或裁员。
"A rising risk to the market outlook is the upward trend in individuals claiming unemployment benefits," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial. "Initial claims and continuing claims have inched higher for the last four months and suggest that the labor market will likely slow further throughout the back half of this year."
LPL金融首席经济学家杰弗里·罗奇表示：“市场前景面临的一个风险是申请失业救济的人数呈上升趋势。过去四个月来，首次申请失业救济金和持续申请失业救济的人数都有所上升，这表明今年下半年劳动力市场可能会进一步放缓。”
There are growing fears that the US economy is on the cusp of – or already in – a recession as a result of the Federal Reserve's war on inflation. The central bank is raising interest rates at the fastest pace in decades as it races to cool consumer prices, which climbed 8.5% in July – a big decline from June but still near a mutli-decades high.
人们越来越担心，由于美联储对抗通胀的斗争，美国经济正处于或已经处于衰退的边缘。美联储采取了几十年最大幅度的加息动作，抑制物价飙升。7月份消费者价格指数上涨了8.5%，增速环比大幅下降，但仍逼近几十年来的最高水平。
Policymakers approved another mega-sized, 75-basis point rate hike – triple the usual size – at their meeting in July and have since signaled they are "nowhere near" ending this tightening cycle, despite signs of a slowdown in the economy.
美联储7月批准了另一次75个基点的大规模加息，这是常规加息幅度的三倍，这表示尽管经济有放缓迹象，但这轮紧缩周期“远未”结束。
