A day before it is scheduled to release comprehensive employment data for April, the U.S. Labor Department on May 4 reported that initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 322,000 last week, 5,000 claims higher than the previous week's revised figure of 317,000.
The department's four-week moving average also edged up last week to 314,250, an increase of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 309,000.
Both increases were small, suggesting that the U.S. economy created at least 150,000 jobs in April.
