Initial jobless claims rise to 304,000

First-time claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, but the longer trend is moving down, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 304,000 last week, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level.

The four-week moving average, which smooths distortions in the weekly figures, was 312,000. That is the lowest since October 6, 2007 when it was 302,000, the Labor Department said.

Last week, Labor reported first-time claims for the week ending April 5 had dropped to 300,000, which was reported as the lowest since May 2007. That number was revised up by 2,000 in Thursday's report.

Economists had forecast this week's report would show a rise in initial claims to 315,000, according to a survey by Action Economics.

Claims numbers this time of year can bounce around because Easter's date changes from year to year and that can affect Labor's seasonal adjustments.

The downward trend in jobless claims means fewer people are being laid off, a good sign for the labor market. Weekly claims have been below 340,000 since mid-January. They averaged well over 600,000 a week through much of 2009.

Earlier this month, the government reported the economy gained 192,000 jobs in March while January and February job gains were 37,000 higher than previously estimated. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.7%.