The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits remained steady at a low level last week, suggesting that the labor market is still fairly tight and will continue to support the economy in the second quarter.

Economists largely dismissed other data released by the Labor Department on Thursday that showed worker productivity growth nearly stalled in the first quarter, noting that the trend in productivity remains solid. They also argued that it was a seasonal quirk that tends to skew gross domestic product and productivity lower in the first quarter.