The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly fell to a seven-week low last week, suggesting employers may be holding on to workers despite other indications of a cooling labor market and creating no urgency for the Federal Reserve to resume its interest rate cuts.

The number of Americans who newly filed for unemployment benefits declined last week, the Labor Department said, although the report suggested that the size of the unemployed population continued to grow in June.

After hitting a peak in early June, initial jobless claims have been sliding in recent weeks, and that continued to be the case at the end of last month. About 233,000 new unemployment insurance claims were filed during the week of June 28,