WASHINGTON — Fewer people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, adding to signs that the job market should continue to improve.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, declined 2,250 to 279,000, the lowest level in more than 14 years.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs and have retreated 18.5 percent in the past year. This suggests rising economic confidence among businesses, leading them to keep their workers and potentially look to hire more employees.

The decline in applications has overlapped with stronger hiring this year.

DETROIT — Honda is adding hundreds of thousands of vehicles to a previously announced recall for passenger air bags that can explode with too much force and send shards of metal into the passenger compartment.The vehicles have air bag systems made by troubled parts supplier Takata Corp. and include older versions of the company's three most popular models, the Accord, Civic and CR-V.Honda Motor already was repairing the vehicles under a safety improvement campaign. The expanded recall announced Thursday night brings the vehicles under supervision of U.S. safety regulators. Owners will get new recall notices by mail.Honda says a precise number of vehicles being added isn't available. Honda has recalled about 5 million vehicles in the U.S. for Takata air bag problems.The recall covers the 2003 to 2005 Accord, 2001-2005 Civic, 2002-2005 CR-V, 2003-2004 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2005 Pilot and the 2006 Ridgeline. Also included are the 2003-2005 Acura MDX and the 2005 Acura RL.

NEW YORK — The number of potential successors for the top spot at PepsiCo is thinning as yet another highly regarded executive announced his departure.Zein Abdalla, named president of the company just over two years ago, will retire this year.The departure of Abdalla, 56, follows that of Brian Cornell, who oversaw Pepsico's global foods business and took the top job at Target this summer.There has been no hint current chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, 59, is stepping down and the company is on solid footing.PepsiCo, based in Purchase, N.Y., recently raised its profit outlook for the second time and company shares hit another all-time high Wednesday.But a deep bench is reassuring to Wall Street, particularly given recent pressure from activist investors like Nelson Peltz, who wants to break the company into smaller parts.