The number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, but was still much higher than expected.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that 386,000 people filed for their first week of jobless claims. While that was a decrease of 2,000 claims from the week before, it was only because the previous week's number was revised higher than originally reported.
Despite the slight decline, the number was still a disappointment given initial claims have recently backed off the four-year lows they were at earlier this year.
Analysts had predicted a total of 375,000 initial jobless claims.
The figure has jumped around recently. Because weekly jobless claims can be volatile, economists often prefer to look at the average number of claims over a four-week period. That figure also rose to 374,750 last week.
Meanwhile, 3,297,000 people filed for their second week of unemployment benefits or more in the week ended April 7, the most recent data available. That marks a 26,000 increase from the prior week
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