New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly came in unchanged in the week ended May 12th, according to figures released by the Labor Department on Thursday. Labor Department figures put the level of new unemployment claims at a seasonally adjusted level of 370,000 for the week, unchanged from the previous week's revised figure. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 365,000 from the 367,000 originally reported for the previous week. Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said, "Although another decline would have been preferred, the results weren't that bad." "On a more optimistic bent, this is a survey week and it shows that the level of first-time filings is below the prior survey period, which is something we haven't seen in a few months," she added. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of new unemployment claims, a figure that eases some of the week-to-week volatility, showed a decrease to 375,000 from the previous week's revised average of 379,750. Labor Department officials said that seasonal factors had predicted a 5.4 percent decline in new unemployment claims, precisely in line with the data reported from the states. The total number of people claiming unemployment insurance, a figure known as continuing claims, increased by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 3.265 million for the week ended May 5th from the previous week's revised level of 3.247 million. However, the four-week average of continuing unemployment claims dropped to 3,282,750, down 11,750 from the previous week's revised average of 3,294,500. According to Labor Department figures, that brings the four-week average of continuing claims to the lowest level since early August of 2008.