By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs remain low despite a weakening labor market.

U.S. applications for jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 27 fell by 16,000 to 199,000 from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 208,000 new applications.

The weekly report was released a day early due to the New Year’s Day holiday.

Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 1,750 to 218,7500.

The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Dec. 20 fell by 47,000 to 1.87 million, the government said.