New US claims for unemployment benefits were unchanged last week, holding at the lowest level since the early days of the 2007-2009 recession.
Workers filed 351,000 initial claims for state unemployment benefits, the Labor Department said. The last two weekly figures have been the lowest since March 2008.
The four-week moving average for new claims, a measure of labour market trends, fell 7,000 to 359,000 - also the lowest since March 2008.
With weekly claims approaching levels last seen before the recession that began in December 2007, economists say US employers may be close to ending a long cycle of heavy lay-offs.
Already, the jobless rate has fallen sharply, dropping to 8.3% in January from 9.1% in August.
Job gains have exceeded 200,000 for two straight months, and the jobless claims data from last week were taken from the sample period of the February employment, which could point to ongoing improvements in hiring.
Strong jobs and factory data have eased worries that US economic growth could slow sharply early this year, but risks of a worsening of Europe's debt crisis and rising oil prices still threaten the recovery.
