WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose by 2,000 to 263,000, but the level of layoffs remained near postrecession lows that showed the labor market is still fairly robust.
Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 265,000 reading in the week stretching from Aug. 21 to Aug. 27.
New claims have hovered in the 260,000 range for the past six weeks. That’s just a touch above the postrecession low of 252,000 set in July, itself a 43-year bottom.
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The average of new jobless claims over the past month, meanwhile, fell by 1,000 and also totaled 263,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The less volatile four-week average is seen as a more accurate measure of labor-market trends.
New claims fell below the key 300,000 threshold in early 2015 and have remained there for 78 straight weeks, the longest stretch since 1970.
Continuing jobless claims, meanwhile, rose by 14,000 to 2.16 million in the week ended Aug. 20, the government said. These claims, reported with a one-week delay, reflect people already receiving unemployment checks.
