The number of people filing initial applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits rose last week, but the four-week moving average of claims fell to its lowest level in nearly 15 years, the government reported Thursday, suggesting a sharp slowdown in job growth in March could be temporary. The Labor Department said jobless claims rose 14,000 to 281,000 last week. The increase followed last week's plunge in claims to match a 15-year low. Claims below 300,000 are typically associated with a strengthening labor market. The four-week average of claims-considered a better measure of labor-market trends because it smoothes weekly volatility-fell 3,000 to 282,250, the lowest level since June 2000. The average has fallen 11.8 percent in the past 12 months. U.S. job creation slowed sharply in March, with payrolls increasing by 126,000, ending a 12-month period of employment gains above 200,000. But with the weakness mostly concentrated in the weather-sensitive leisure and construction sectors, economists downplayed the slowdown. The Labor Department report also showed the number of people receiving unemployment benefits fell 23,000 to 2.3 million last week, the lowest level in more than 14 years.
