Minutes from the Fed's July 28-29 policy meeting published on Wednesday showed the U.S. central bank upbeat on improving labor market conditions, but worried about persistently tame inflation and a weak global economy.  Economists believe that policymakers' concerns about low price pressures have raised the bar for a September interest rate hike. Futures markets on Wednesday trimmed bets for monetary policy tightening next month.  The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 5,500 to 271,500 last week.  Read MoreOil slump will end in panic liquidation: Gartman  It was the 21st straight week that the four-week average remained below the 300,000 threshold, which is usually associated with a strengthening labor market.  The claims data covered the week that the government surveyed employers for the nonfarm payrolls portion of August's employment report. The four-week average of claims fell 7,000 between the July and August survey periods, suggesting another month of healthy job gains.  Payrolls increased by 215,000 jobs in July. So far this year, job gains have exceeded 200,000 in five out of seven months. At a seven-year low of 5.3 percent, the unemployment rate is near the 5.0 percent to 5.2 percent range that most Fed officials think is consistent with full employment.  Wednesday's Fed minutes showed that "many members thought that labor market underutilization would be largely eliminated in the near term," but others worried that tepid wage gains could mean it would take longer to achieve full employment.  Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 24,000 to 2.25 million in the week ended Aug. 8.  —CNBC contributed to this report.
The employment trend remains consistent with solid labor market momentum that could keep the Fed on track to raise interest rates this year.