The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000 for the week ended 18 February, the Labor Department said.
The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 4,000 to 241,000 last week, the lowest reading since July 1973.
Continuing claims fell 17,000 to 2.06 million in the week ended 11 February.