WASHINGTON—The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits rose slightly last week after touching a 15-year low, but the level remains consistent with an economy that is adding jobs.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S. economy, increased by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000 in the week ended May 2, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 275,000 new claims last week.
The level of claims for the prior week, unrevised at 262,000, was the lowest since April 2000.
Data on applications for unemployment benefits are volatile from week to week. The four-week moving average for initial claims fell by 4,250 last week to 279,500. That was lowest average since May 2000.
"The trends in the claims data continue to send upbeat signals regarding conditions in the labor market," said J.P. Morgan economist Daniel Silver.
The Labor Department said no special factors influenced the latest data.
Unemployment claims have generally trended down since late February. Fewer layoffs typically coincide with healthy hiring. However, U.S. employers slowed payroll growth sharply in March. The Labor Department reported nonfarm payrolls increased by 126,000 in March, the smallest gain since the end of 2013.
April's payroll reading, and any revision to the March figure, is due out Friday. Economists forecast that payrolls expanded by 228,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% from the prior month's 5.5% reading.
If payroll gains fail to accelerate, that could be a concern for Federal Reserve policy makers. Central bankers are assessing the health of the labor market while they determine when to raise benchmark interest rates from near zero.
Friday's employment data will likely set the tone for the "projected second quarter rebound," said Amherst Pierpont Securities economist Stephen Stanley. "While labor demand has cooled somewhat due to weakness in a few specific sectors, primarily oil and gas, and manufacturing, the broad underlying tone of the labor market remains strong."
Thursday's report showed the number of continuing claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 28,000 to 2.23 million in the week ended April 25. That was the lowest level for insured unemployment since November 2000. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
Write to Eric Morath at eric.morath@wsj.com
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