New Jobless Claims Up More than Expected

But we're supposed to be out of the woods!

First-time claims for unemployment benefits rose by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 362,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The larger-than-expected increase followed a drop in claims the previous week, when 342,000 filed initial jobless claims.

The Labor Department's less volatile measure of jobless claims, a four-week moving average, was 360,750, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average of 352,750.