WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing requests for jobless benefits fell by a scant 1,000 last week to 367,000, the US Labor Department said Thursday.

A survey of economists by Dow Jones expected claims to rise by 5,000 from the prior week’s unrevised figure to 370,000. Claims from two weeks ago were revised higher to 368,000 from 365,000.

Meanwhile, the average of new claims over the past four weeks dropped by 5,250 to 379,000. Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, decreased by 61,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 3.23 million in the week ended April 28.

About 6.4 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended April 21, down 174,529 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag and are not seasonally adjusted.