WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of initial jobless claims in the United States increased last week, according to a report released by the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday.

People walk along a shopping street in lower Manhattan on July 05, 2019 in New York City. 

In the week ending Aug. 10, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits increased by 9,000 to 220,000, above economists' expectation of 214,000. Meanwhile, the prior week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 209,000 to 211,000.

The report also showed that the four-week moving average of initial claims, a method to iron out data volatility, increased by 1,000 to 213,750. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 to 212,750.

Yet the reading of jobless claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, signaling a tight U.S. labor market.

For the bigger picture of U.S. labor market, American employers added 164,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Aug. 2.