Initial jobless claims dipped slightly less than expected.
Claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in the past week, ticked down by 2,000 to 241,000.
Economists had been expecting claims to fall to 240,000, down from the previous week’s 243,000.
The four-week moving average came in at 237,250, a drop of 750 from the prior week’s unrevised average of 236,500.
Initial jobless claims are used as a real-time proxy for the pace of layoffs and the overall health of the labor market since people usually file for benefits soon after they lose their jobs.