WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to continued labor market stability.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 208,000 for the week ended July 11, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 217,000 claims for the latest week. 

Claims have retreated after surging at the end of May and staying elevated through mid-June. They are at levels that economists say are consistent with what they call a "slow hire, slow fire" labor market. 

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book report on Wednesday said "employment rose on balance," in early July, with "five districts showing modest, moderate, or solid gains in employment, and with seven districts experiencing little to no change." It noted that skilled workers were hard to find in a range of fields, especially technicians and tradespeople.

A National Federation of Independent Business survey this week also highlighted worker shortages, reporting a jump in June in the share of small business owners who said there were few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill.   

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, fell 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.805 million during the week ended July 4, the claims report showed.