By Jeffry Bartash WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by 23,000 last week to 302,000, one week after falling to a 14-year low. Still, the level of initial claims remains near a postrecession bottom and continue to signal further improvement in the labor market. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected claims to total a seasonally adjusted 308,000 in the week ended July 26. The average of new claims over the past month, meanwhile, fell by 3,500 to 297,250, the Labor Department said. It's the first time the monthly average has fallen below the 300,000 mark since April 2006 and reflects an eight-year low. The four-week figure smooths out the jumpiness in the weekly report and offers a better look at underlying trends in the labor market. Also, the government said continuing claims increased by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.54 million in the week ended July 19. Continuing claims reflect the number of people already receiving benefits. Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised down to 279,000 from 284,000, marking the lowest level since 2000 at the tail end of the Internet boom. The big drop in claims two weeks ago was probably triggered in part by annual summer shutdowns by some major U.S. manufacturers to retool their plants for new production. The shutdowns often cause the claims report to gyrate in July.

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