NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The number of U.S. workers making new jobless claims rose a bigger-than-expected 11,000 last week, a government report showed Thursday.

First-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits grew to a seasonally adjusted 308,000 for the week ended June 17 from an upwardly revised 297,000 claims in the previous week, the Labor Department said.

Wall Street economists had forecast initial claims would rise to 305,000 from an initially reported 295,000 for the prior week.

Despite the gain last week, a jobless number around 300,000 is generally considered a sign of a fairly tight job market.

The four-week moving average of new claims fell to 311,250 from an upwardly revised 316,250. The moving average smoothes out big fluctuations in weekly numbers to give a better picture of labor market conditions.

Continued claims rose 18,000 to 2.44 million in the week ended June 10, the latest week for which information is available.

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