US jobless claim filings rise modestly to 214,000 last week, remain at historically healthy levels

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits inched up last week but remains within the historically healthy range of recent years.

U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 18 rose by 6,000 to 214,000, up from the previous week’s 208,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

That’s slightly more than the 210,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 11 rose by 12,000 to 1.82 million.