By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for new unemployment benefits surged by 32,000 to 360,000 in the week ended May 11, putting jobless claims at the highest level in a month and a half, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to a seasonally adjusted 330,000 from a revised 328,000 in the prior week. A Labor official said there was nothing unusual in the report and there was no evidence that reductions in federal spending under a law known as the sequester contributed to the spike. The average of new claims over the past month, which smoothes out weekly volatility, rose a much smaller 1,250 to 339,250 and remained near a five-year low. Also, the government said continuing claims decreased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.0 million in the week ended May 4. Continuing claims reflect the number of people already receiving benefits. Initial claims from two weeks ago, meanwhile, were revised up to 328,000 from an original reading of 323,000, based on more complete data collected at the state level.
