The number of Americans submitting new claims for unemployment benefits grew marginally last week, marking the eighth straight week of flat or higher continuing jobless claims, the longest trend since the 2009 financial crisis.

What Happened: For the week ending Dec. 3, initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000, according to Labor Department statistics released Thursday.

The boost last week was in line with economists' predictions. Claims were much below the 270,000 barrier, which experts say was negative for the job market.

In the week ending Nov. 26, continuing claims, which included individuals who previously received unemployment benefits for a week or longer, increased by 62,000 to 1.7 million.

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Despite the fact the weekly jobless claims report revealed unemployment rolls rose to a 10-month high in late November, experts advised against reading too much into the shift because of the data is unpredictable around the holiday season.

"It is too early to interpret higher continuing claims as a signal of a loosening labor market," said Isfar Munir, a Citigroup economist to Bloomberg. "The holiday time is generally not attractive to workers to start a new job, compounded by many firms temporarily closing during the holiday period."

Why It Matters: Economists have been paying closer attention to continuing claims in recent weeks because it serves as a measure of how difficult it is for people to obtain work after losing their job. It has also been known to foreshadow impending recessions.

Although the gauge steadily climbed over the previous two months, it remained around historic lows.

Unadjusted claims increased by 87,113 to 286,436 last week, led by big rises in California, New York, Georgia and Texas. Marked increases were also observed in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey and Washington state.

The unemployment rate for individuals receiving unemployment benefits rose to 1.2%, the most since March, from 1.1% the previous week, indicating that it was taking a little longer for those unemployed to find work.

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Photo: Vitalii Vodolazskyi via Shutterstock