The number of people filing new applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, but jobless claims remain at pre-recession levels, the government reported Thursday. The Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 23,000 to 302,000 last week. But the four-week moving average of jobless claims - considered a better measure of labor market trends because it smoothes weekly volatility - fell 3,500 to 297,250, the lowest level since April 2006, nearly 20 months before the Great Recession started at the end of 2007. Despite the increase in jobless claims last week, they remain at levels consistent with strong job growth. The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that U.S. employers added 233,000 jobs in July. That would be a slowdown from the 288,000 positions created in June, but still would mark the sixth consecutive month that employment has expanded by more than 200,000, a stretch last seen in 1997.
