Unemployment Claims Fall as Layoffs Remain Low

 Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as U.S. layoffs remain low despite growing concern about a weakening job market.

U.S. filings for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 10 fell by 9,000 to 198,000, down from 207,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The figure was significantly less than the 215,000 that analysts polled by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

Applications for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 6,500 to 205,000.

The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Jan. 3 declined by 19,000 to 1.88 million, the government said.