(March 21): Initial applications for US unemployment benefits held near historically low levels last week, underscoring the resilience of the labour market.

Initial claims decreased by 2,000 to 210,000 in the week ended March 16, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 213,000.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, were also little changed at 1.81 million in the week ended March 9.

Applications for unemployment insurance have remained subdued over the last year despite elevated interest rates and some signs of cooling in the labour market. And revised data released last week showed filings for benefits were even lower than initially reported. Continuing claims, for instance, have been hovering around 1.8 million this year, not climbing to 1.9 million as previously thought.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the labour market remains strong and initial claims are “very, very low”. With hiring growth slowing, some have argued that if layoffs were to increase, unemployment would rise as well fairly quickly. “That is something we’re watching, but we’re not seeing,” Powell said at a press conference after the US central bank left interest rates unchanged at a two-decades high.

Weekly claims tend to be volatile. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth short-term fluctuations, edged up to 211,250, a one-month high.

The unadjusted data on initial claims, which doesn’t take into account seasonal influences, dropped by 12,730 to nearly 190,000. California and Oregon saw the largest declines.