October 12, 2006 10:30 AM, EDT

Initial Jobless Claims Rise 4,000 for Week

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irst-time U.S. jobless claims rose 4,000 to 308,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists had expected a decline to 311,000 from last week’s initially-reported 302,000, Bloomberg said.

The less-volatile four-week moving average fell to 313,250.

ontinuing jobless claims for the week ended Sep. 23 rose to 2.445 million from 2.44 million a week earlier.