The Labor Department report continues to show weekly jobless claims beating Wall Street expectations in the third week after changing its calculation method. The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 294,000 for the week ended April 11.
However, claims for the prior week were revised down to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. A Labor Department analyst said there was nothing unusual in the state-level data.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims slipping to 280,000 last week.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims — widely considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility — increased by 250 to 282,750 last week.
The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 40,000 to 2.27 million in the week ended April 4.
