Early September brought a reminder of the U.S. job market’s fragility as applications for jobless benefits climbed up to 263,000. A not-so-everyday riseThe Department of Labor’s weekly bulletin, later echoed by analysts at Trading Economics, chalked up 21,000 extra jobless claims from an earlier, tighter-palmed adjustment of 242,000. Matt Weidinger, an economist with the American Enterprise Institute, showed that numbers sometimes reflect “housekeeping” tweaks or normal end-of-year smoothing, not panic in the job market itself. With inflation, interest rates, and global headwinds to balance, the labor market is still a key measure of economic health. The rise in claims to 263,000 shows that even a reportedly strong economy has weak spots.