By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- The number of people claiming jobless benefits after being laid off rose to the highest in four weeks last week but remained at a historically low level.
Initial jobless claims rose to 196,000 from 183,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was fractionally higher than the 190,000 expected but still left the four-week average for new jobless claims at an eight-month low of 189,250.
Continuing claims also came in a shade higher than expected at 1.688 million, up 38,000 from the previous week.
The numbers bring one of the big outliers in U.S. economic data a little more into line with other signs of a slowdown but will be unlikely to change perceptions that the labor market remains strong, with plenty of vacancies for the newly laid off to take.