Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 333,000 last week, up 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 322,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported on May 5. The number of claims for the week ending April 30 was 8,000 above the 325,000 total that economists generally expected.
The department's four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths out the week-to-week changes in the numbers, fell by 2,000 last week to 321,500.
