Offsetting the recent downward trend, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose for the third consecutive week in the week ended March 30th. A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that initial jobless claims rose to 385,000, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 357,000. The continued increase in jobless claims came as a surprise to economists, who had expected claims to edge down to 350,000. With the unexpected increase, jobless claims rose to their highest level since coming in at 390,000 in the week ended November 24, 2012. Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital, said, "The weekly data are volatile but this latest jump erased all of the improvement over the past few months." The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average climbed to 354,250, an increase of 11,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 343,000. Lee noted that the increase by the four-week moving average "wasn't as stark," although the moving average is still at its highest level in a month. Meanwhile, continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, edged down to 3.063 million in the week ended March 23rd from the preceding week's revised level of 3.071 million.