More Americans sought unemployment aid last week, though the number of applications was still consistent with steady hiring.
The U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications rose 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 313,000, the most in six weeks. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, increased 11,500 to 294,500.
Economists expected a reading of 290,000 in the latest week.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs. The average has been near or below 300,000 since September, an historically low number that suggests companies are holding onto their staffs and may even be stepping up hiring.
Employers stateside added more than one million jobs from November through January, the best three-month pace since 1997.
And more than 3.2 million jobs have been created in the past year. That has helped lower the unemployment rate to 5.7% in January from 6.6% only 12 months earlier.
