US weekly jobless claims decrease as labor market conditions remain stable

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits dropped last week, and the unemployment rate appears to have held steady in April as the labor market continued to show no material impact from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 189,000 for the week ended April 25, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 215,000 claims for the latest week.

The labor market has remained in a "low hire, low fire" mode despite an oil price shock from the Middle East conflict. Still, economists warn of downside risks as shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz raise prices of other commodities, including fertilizers, petrochemicals and aluminum.

Labor market stability for now supports financial market expectations that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates unchanged this year. The U.S. central bank left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range on Wednesday citing rising inflation concerns.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, decreased 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.785 million during the week ended April 18, the claims report showed. The so-called continuing claims?data covered the period during which the government surveyed households for April's unemployment rate.

The jobless rate was at 4.3% in March. A Conference Board survey on Tuesday showed the share of consumers perceiving employment as "hard to get" dropped in April while the proportion saying jobs were "plentiful" was little changed.

Economists said the findings were consistent with the unemployment rate holding steady in April.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)