WASHINGTON—The number of Americans filing applications for new unemployment benefits fell last week, indicating Hurricane Florence likely had a fairly modest impact on the labor market.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., decreased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 207,000 in the week ended Sept. 29, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 215,000 new claims last week.
Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina in mid-September, but claims only slightly increased.
Nonseasonally adjusted data showed the number of claims filed in North Carolina decreased to 5,301 last week from 10,084 the prior week. Claims in South Carolina rose to 4,782 from 3,843.
Still, North Carolina posted the largest claims increase in the nation for the week ended Sept. 22, followed by Kentucky and South Carolina. Layoffs stemming from inclement weather, likely Hurricane Florence, drove up claims in South Carolina.
So far, this suggests too few North and South Carolinians immediately filed for unemployment benefits to affect national claims figures. This could change in coming weeks.
More broadly, claims data shows that in a tight labor market, employers are very reluctant to dismiss workers. The unemployment rate has been hovering near an 18-year low in recent months.
The Labor Department releases the September jobs report Friday. While Florence is unlikely to distort jobs numbers as much as last year’s hurricanes, extreme weather can translate into weaker-than-expected short-term job growth.
Other unemployment claims measures indicate labor-market strength.
Thursday’s report showed the four-week moving average of claims, a steadier measure, increased last week by 500 to 207,000, still a historically low level.
The number of claims workers made for longer than a week decreased by 13,000 to 1,650,000 in the week ended Sept. 22. The figure, also known as continuing claims, is reported with a one-week lag.
Write to Sarah Chaney at sarah.chaney@wsj.com and Sharon Nunn at sharon.nunn@wsj.com