U.S. Weekly Jobless Rise

Jobless claims in the U.S. rose 4,000 to 340,000 in the week ended May 7, the Labor Department said May 12. Economists were forecasting a drop in initial claims to about 325,000. Claims in the previous week were revised higher to a gain of 15,000 to 336,000, compared with the initial estimate of a gain of 11,000 to 333,000.

The four-week moving average of new claims rose by 2,000 to 324,000 in the week.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005