Initial jobless claims gained 7,000 to 320,000 in the week ended Feb. 28, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Claims for the week ended Feb. 21 were unrevised at 313,000.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.421 million in the week ended Feb. 21, up from the revised 2.404 million the week before, initially reported as 2.401 million.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 295,000 initial claims and 2.400 million continuing claims.
The four-week average of initial claims was up 10,250 in the week ended Feb. 28 to 304,750.
