The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week, a sign that the labour market stateside was continuing to tighten.
Figures put out Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department showed that initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 5,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 239,000 for the week ended Feb. 11.
Claims have been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a strong American labour market, for 102 consecutive weeks, adding to the longest stretch since 1970, when the labour market was much smaller.
The labour market south of the border is at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate at 4.8%
Economists had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits rising to 245,000 in the latest week.
Meantime, the four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, edged up 500 to 245,250 last week.
