Jobless Claims Rise By 30,000 in Latest Week

he number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 30,000 in the week ended April 10 to 360,000, the biggest increase in more than a year, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The last time claims rose by 30,000 or more was in the week that ended Dec. 7, 2002, when they increased by 42,000 to 431,000. Claims last week were at their highest level since the week that ended Feb. 7.

Labor said claims had fallen to a revised 330,000 the previous week and said claims tend to be unusually volatile during the first week of a quarter and the Easter holidays, which coincided this year.

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile indicator, rose by 6,750 to 344,250 from 337,500 the previous week.

The number of people continuing to collect state jobless benefits fell by 22,000 to 2.980 million in the week that ended April 3 from 3 million a week earlier. That was the lowest since 2.975 million in the week that ended July 21, 2001.