Jobless Claims Rise by 5,000 for Week

May 4, 2006 8:45 AM, EDT

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he number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment claims rose by 5,000 to 322,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The level exceeded economists’ forecast of a decline to 310,000 claims, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 314,250, from 309,000 a week earlier.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended April 22 rose to 2.462 million from 2.441 million.