Jobless Claims Rise 1,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims rose 1,000 last week to 349,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The less-volatile four-week moving average also fell 1,000, to 342,500.
 
The weekly claims were higher than of economists’ forecasts of 340,000, Bloomberg reported.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits jumped by 75,000 to 2.713 million for the previous week ended Dec. 22, the highest since November 2005.