WASHINGTON—The number of Americans filing applications for new unemployment benefits fell last week, indicating Hurricane Florence likely had a fairly modest impact on the labor market.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs across the U.S., decreased by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 207,000 in the week ended Sept. 29, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina in mid-September, but nationally, claims only slightly increased.

Nonseasonally adjusted data showed the number of claims filed in North Carolina decreased to 5,301 last week from 10,084 the prior week. Claims in South Carolina rose to 4,782 from 3,843.

Analysts say the impact of Hurricane Florence on jobless claims was less severe than expected.

“The strength of the labor market outside the South Atlantic has compensated for the regional weakness,” wrote Michael Gapen, a Barclays economist, in a note to clients.

This could change in coming weeks if North and South Carolinians who didn’t immediately file for unemployment benefits do so.

More broadly, the claims data show that in a tight labor market, employers are very reluctant to dismiss workers. The unemployment rate has been hovering near an 18-year low in recent months.

The Labor Department releases the September jobs report Friday. While Florence is unlikely to distort jobs numbers as much as last year’s hurricanes, extreme weather can translate into weaker-than-expected short-term job growth.

Other unemployment claims measures indicate labor-market strength.

Thursday’s report showed the four-week moving average of claims, a steadier measure, increased last week by 500 to 207,000, still a historically low level.

The number of claims workers made for longer than a week decreased by 13,000 to 1.65 million in the week ended Sept. 22. The figure, also known as continuing claims, is reported with a one-week lag.

Write to Sarah Chaney at sarah.chaney@wsj.com and Sharon Nunn at sharon.nunn@wsj.com