The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial jobless claims fell by 15,000 from a revised 229,000 in the previous week.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had predicted initial jobless claims to total a seasonally adjusted 220,000 in the seven days ended March 12.
The weekly jobless claims appear to have fallen below the 200,000 threshold again. They sank to a 52 year low of 188,000 at the end of last year.
Job openings are at record highs and layoffs are at record lows.
The biggest labor shortage in modern times is the main problem that companies have to find enough workers. The economy has created an average of 582,000 new jobs a month in the past three months.
The U.S. economy is likely to keep growing at a steady pace as long as demand for labor is strong. In the short run, high inflation exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the potential spread of another strain of the coronavirus are the biggest risks.
There was a decline in New York that reversed a big increase in the previous week, as well as a decline in Raw, or unadjusted jobless claims in more than half of the states.
Michigan was the only state to have a significant increase in new unemployment benefits claims.
In the week ending March 5, the number of people who are already receiving unemployment benefits fell by 71,000 to 1.42 million. These continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, have fallen below pre-crisis levels and are extremely low.
Money market economist Thomas Simons of Jefferies wrote in a note to clients that the demand for labor is strong and there is no reason to believe that this will change soon, even though there is a wave of a new COVID variant.
We expect that initial and continuing claims will be biased towards going lower in the weeks ahead. Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX were set to open lower in Thursday trades. After an extended losing streak triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, stocks surged in the past two days.