By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who filed applications for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 365,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had projected claims would rise to 370,000 from last week's upwardly revised level of 357,000. A more stable barometer of labor-market trends, the four-week claims average, dropped 2,750 to 365,500, the lowest level since late March. The four-week average reduces seasonal volatility in the weekly data. Meanwhile, continuing claims decreased by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.27 million in the week ended July 21. About 5.96 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended July 14, down 69,672 from the prior week.
