Jobless Claims Rise for Week

Initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 last week to 319,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The less-volatile four-week moving average fell by 1,000, to 324,000 claims, Labor said.

The 319,000 claims level was below economists’ forecasts of 325,000 new claims, Bloomberg reported.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to 2.579 million, the highest since January 2006, for the previous week ended Sept. 1, Labor said.