U.S. filings for first-time unemployment benefits rose to 226,000 in the week ended Aug. 2, exceeding economists’ projections of roughly 221,000 and marking a second consecutive weekly increase, the Labor Department said Thursday. Recurring claims, a proxy for the number of people continuing to receive unemployment assistance, climbed by 38,000 to 1.97 million. The figure is the highest since November 2021 and suggests laid-off workers are taking longer to find new jobs even as the pace of dismissals remains historically subdued. The four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths weekly volatility, slipped for a seventh straight week and is now close to its lowest level since February, underscoring the mixed signals in the labor market. Treasury yields moved higher after the report, with investors weighing signs of cooling employment against expectations that the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest rates as soon as its September meeting.