US filings for jobless benefits remained in historically healthy range during government shutdown

New U.S. jobless claim applications fell last week, remaining within the healthy range of recent years, according to the government’s first weekly layoffs data since before the government shut down on Oct. 1.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the week ending Nov. 15 fell by 8,000 to 220,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Data for the weeks covering the government shutdown also remained in the same range between 200,000 and 250,000.

The four-week average of claims, which softens some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 3,000 to 224,250.

The total number of Americans filing for for jobless benefits for the week ending Nov. 8 jumped to 1.97 million, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week.