Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, rose to 270,000 in the week ending August 1, an increase of 3,000 from the prior week s unrevised level of 267,000, the Labor Department reported. “Claims are running at a pace consistent with monthly job growth of better than 200,000″.

While more Americans are finding work, it may be that those with jobs have yet to see the kinds of gains in wages that would inspire more confidence.

“While the unemployment rate, at 5.3%, is well below its average levels of the past 50 years, neither workers nor businesses seem particularly optimistic about growth prospects”.

“Initial claims for unemployment insurance have been below 300,000 for 22 straight weeks, the longest such stretch since 1973″, said Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services.

Thursday’s economic data gave us the last bit of what to expect for the formal employment situation report on Friday. The U.S. central bank, which is expected to raise interest rates this year for the first time in almost a decade, also said labour market slack had diminished “since early this year”. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, fell by 6,500 to seasonally adjusted 268,250.

While views of the economy improved, the measure of household finances dropped to the weakest level since October and attitudes about the buying climate reached a seven-week low.

Last week, the Federal Reserve upgraded its assessment of the jobs market, describing employment gains as “solid”.

Employers in the technology sector, including Microsoft (MSFT.O), Qualcomm (QCOM.O) and Intel Corp (INTC.OQ), announced 18,891 job cuts in July.