By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits declined last week in a sign that layoffs remain low, even as several high-profile companies have announced job cuts.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending Nov. 22 dropped 6,000 from the previous week to 216,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits is seen as a proxy for layoffs and is close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The job cuts announced recently by large companies such as Target and Amazon typically take weeks or months to fully implement and may not yet be reflected in the claims data.

The four-week average of claims, which softens some

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