April 13, 2006 8:50 AM, EDT

Jobless Claims Rise; Continuing Claims Hit Five-Year Low

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he number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment claims rose by 12,000 to 313,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended April 1 fell to 2.424 million, the lowest since January 2001.

Last week’s number exceeded economists’ forecasts of a rise 305,000, Bloomberg reported.

he four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 307,500, from 309,000 a week earlier.