WASHINGTON—The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits inched up last week from the lowest level in almost a half-century, but remained historically low.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., increased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 in the week ended April 28, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 225,000 new claims last week.
The 209,000 claims in the prior week were the lowest since Dec. 6, 1969—when the U.S. population and workforce were far smaller than they are today. The 211,000 new claims last week were the second-lowest weekly reading over that span.
“In all, we see the claims data as pointing to robust labor markets,” Barclays economist Pooja Sriram said in a note to clients.
Claims can be volatile from week to week; the four-week moving average fell last week to 221,500, its lowest level since March 3, 1973.
The Labor Department said claims-taking procedures in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which were devastated last year by powerful hurricanes, “have still not returned to normal.”
Unemployment-benefit applications have remained low for years, evidence of healthy conditions in the U.S. job market.
Nonfarm employers added an average 202,000 jobs per month in the first quarter, up from a monthly average of 182,000 new jobs during 2017 as a whole, according to the Labor Department. The jobless rate was 4.1% in March for the sixth straight month, holding at its lowest level since the end of 2000.
The Labor Department on Friday will release its April jobs report. Economists surveyed by the Journal expect 195,000 new jobs for the month and an unemployment rate of 4.0%.
“Job gains have been strong, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate has stayed low,” the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its latest policy statement.
Thursday’s report also showed the number of jobless claims made by workers longer than a week declined by 77,000 to 1.756 million in the week ended April 21. That was the lowest level since Dec. 8, 1973. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
Write to Ben Leubsdorf at ben.leubsdorf@wsj.com