WASHINGTON – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits saw an unexpected 14,000 rise to 257,000, 12,000 higher than the 245,000 analysts expected, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
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The four-week seasonally adjusted moving average for initial claims fell by 500 to 242,250 in the April 22 survey week, a fourth straight decline.
If the number of claims does not change next week and there are no revisions to data from the past four weeks, the four-week average will rise sharply as the 235,000 level in the April 1 week leaves the average.
Continuing claims rose 10,000 to 1.988 million in the April 15 employment survey week, 64,000 below the level in March 18 employment survey week.