Weekly jobless claims rise
Government says the number of people applying for unemployment benefits increased; claims filed are slightly under economists' expectations.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The number of new applications for unemployment benefits rose last week after a one-week drop, according to a government report released Thursday.
The Labor Department said initial filings for unemployment claims rose to 372,000 in the week ended April 12, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 355,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to rise to 375,000 from the originally reported 357,000, according to a consensus estimate gathered by Briefing.com.
The four-week average for claims was 376,000, down only slightly from the previous four-week average of 376,750.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, an independent macro-economics research firm, says the claims level is now slightly higher than was recorded at the start of the recession in 2001.
Expect claims to be 400,000 plus by mid-year, Shepherdson wrote Thursday in his daily note. "We can think of no good reason why claims should now level off, and plenty of reasons why they should be expected to rise further."
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a net loss of 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of declining payrolls. 
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