The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell modestly last week, remaining within the same range of recent years.

Jobless claim filings fell by 6,000 to 219,000 for the week ending March 29, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's less than the 226,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

The four-week average of applications, which aims to smooth out some of the week-to-week swings, fell by 1,250 to 223,000.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 22 increased by 56,000 to 1.9 million.