Jobless Claims Rise for Week

Initial jobless claims rose by 19,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The rise to 342,000 new claims was higher than economists’ forecasts 321,000 and was the highest in almost two months, Bloomberg reported.

The less-volatile four-week moving average rose to 323,250 from 316,250 the previous week.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to 2.527 million for the previous week ended March 31, from 2.489 million a week earlier, Labor reported.