Associated Press

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits rose last week for the first time since April.

The central bank raised its inflation forecast to 3.4% by year-end and expects to hike its benchmark interest rate twice by late 2023.

There was a 0.6% increase in prices over April and 5% over the past year, the biggest 12-month inflation spike since 2008.

Jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The pace of hiring picked up in May, with U.S. employers adding 559,000 jobs, but it missed economists' forecasts.

The Labor Department said Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 385,000, down 20,000 from the week before.

The number of weekly jobless claims — a rough measure of the pace of layoffs — has fallen by more than half since January.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 473,000.

The rise in inflation over the past year is at its fastest rate in more than a decade.

The number is 266,000 jobs, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers.