Mark Blinch/Reuters
Lukas Stewart, with a sign strapped to his back, uses a megaphone to attract the attention of potential employers as he hands out resumes on Bay Street in the financial district in Toronto, March 5, 2009.
Economists forecast that claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in the past week, ticked down to 250,000.
Claims rose by more than expected the prior week, up by 22,000 to 259,000.
As of last Thursday, claims have been below 300,000 for 99 consecutive weeks.
Initial jobless claims are used as a real-time proxy for the pace of layoffs and the overall health of the labor market, since people usually file for benefits soon after they lose their jobs.