By Sarah Chaney Cambon

New applications for unemployment benefits fell last week and hovered near historic lows in a sign of a tight U.S. labor market.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, decreased to 210,000 last week from the previous week's level of 218,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims remain near 2019 pre-pandemic levels, when the job market also was historically tight. The four-week average for claims, which smooths out volatility in the weekly figures, rose to 206,750 last week.

Thursday's report showed continuing claims, a proxy for the total number of people receiving payments from state unemployment programs, increased slightly to 1.35 million for the week ended May 14 from 1.32 million a week earlier. They remain near the lowest level since 1969. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.

Write to Sarah Chaney Cambon at sarah.chaney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2022 09:01 ET (13:01 GMT)