US Initial Jobless Claims Ease in Sign of Resilient Labor Market

Initial applications for US unemployment benefits held near historically low levels last week, underscoring the resilience of the labor market.

Initial claims decreased by 2,000 to 210,000 in the week ended March 16, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 213,000.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, were also little changed at 1.81 million in the week ended March 9.

Applications for unemployment insurance have remained subdued over the last year despite elevated interest rates and some signs of cooling in ...