Initial Weekly Jobless Claims Rise

Initial jobless claims rose last week while the number of people receiving continuing claims set a record for the 15th straight week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims for the week ended Saturday rose 32,000 to 637,000 from a revised 605,000 the previous week, Labor said.

The number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose to 6.56 million for the previous week ended May 2, Labor said.

Last week’s initial claims were forecast by economists to rise to 610 from the 601,000 reported originally for the previous week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 630,500, from 624,500 a week earlier.