Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest since mid-April, remaining relatively subdued amid economic uncertainty.

Initial claims decreased by 6,000 to 216,000 in the week ended Nov. 22. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 225,000 applications.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, edged up to 1.96 million in the previous week, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday.

Wednesday’s figures indicate employers are still largely retaining current employees as they have pulled back on bringing in new hires. Though there have been an increasing number of job cut announcements by large companies in recent weeks, including Verizon Communications Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., the

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