The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but the levels remained below those associated with a strong labour market.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 11,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 276,000 for the week ended March 26 The prior week's claims were unrevised.
Economists had forecast claims remaining at 265,000 in the latest seven-day period.
Applications for unemployment benefits have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with healthy labour market conditions, for 55 consecutive weeks, the longest stretch since 1973. With the labour market continuing to tighten, there is little scope for significant further declines in claims.
A department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week's claims data and no states had been estimated.
The four-week moving average of claims, which removes the factor of week-to-week volatility, rose 3,500 to 263,250 last week.
