In the US, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits decreased slightly. The Labor Department reported that applications for jobless aid went down by 2,000 to 215,000 in the week ending July 4.

This decrease indicates that layoffs in the country remain low. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are seen as a way to measure the health of the US job market in real-time.

Further details on the US job market are available from the Labor Department's reports, including the June jobs report which showed a decrease in hiring and a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.2%. For more information, readers can refer to the source.