WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits climbed by 22,000 to a one-month high of 259,000 in late January, but the level of layoffs remained extremely low.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast initial claims would climb to a seasonally adjusted 250,000 in the week stretching from Jan. 15 to Jan. 21. Claims often gyrate in the first month of the year around the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.