WASHINGTON—The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits was unchanged in the first week of November.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., held steady at a seasonally adjusted 276,000 in the week ended Nov. 7, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 270,000 new claims last week.
The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out weekly ups and downs, rose by 5,000 to 267,750 last week.
Claims were unrevised at 276,000 for the week ending Oct. 31.
Claims have been trending downward since 2009 and have recently hovered near a four-decade low. That suggests employers have been reluctant to lay off workers, a sign the labor market is getting tighter.
Fewer layoffs typically means hiring is picking up. Thursday's weekly gauge of labor market conditions follows last week's release of stronger-than-expected job growth figures for October.
Thursday's report showed the number of continuing unemployment benefits, claims drawn by workers for more than a week, rose by 5,000 to 2,174,000 in the week ended Oct. 31. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors affecting the latest weekly numbers.
Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@wsj.com and Eric Morath at eric.morath@wsj.com
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