By Likhitha Butchireddygari and Sarah Chaney 
 

WASHINGTON--The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell last week, remaining at historically low levels.

--Initial jobless claims were down 12,000 to 209,000 in the week ending Aug. 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected jobless claims to fall to 217,000.

--Weekly jobless claims can be volatile. The four-week moving average increased 500 to 214,500 from the week prior.

--Continuing claims, those filed by workers unemployed for longer than a week, decreased by 54,000 to 1,674,000 in the week ending Aug 10.

The Labor Department report on jobless claims can be accessed at: https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf.

Write to Likhitha Butchireddygari at likhitha.butchireddygari@wsj.com and Sarah Chaney at sarah.chaney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)