Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain historically low. U.S. jobless claims filings rose by 2,000 to 223,000 for the week ending March 15, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s just less than the 224,000 new applications analysts forecast. Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years. The four-week average inched up by 750 to 227,000. The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 8 rose by 33,000 to 1.89 million.
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