New claims for US unemployment insurance benefits edged lower last week but held to the recent low range that suggests increasing tightness in the jobs market, Labor Department figures showed Thursday.
Initial jobless claims numbered 291,000 in the week ending November 15, down from 293,000 last week.
The four-week average, a sign of the pace of layoffs, was 287,500 claims, compared with 340,250 a year ago.
At the beginning of November the government reported another fall in the overall unemployment rate to 5.8 percent, with job creation holding a pace above 200,000 a month for the ninth consecutive month.