Initial jobless claims surged 28,000 to 326,000 in the week ended May 17, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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Claims for the week ended May 10 were revised to 298,000 from the 297,000 initially reported.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.653 million in the week ended May 10, down from the downwardly revised 2.666 million the week before, first reported as 2.667 million.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 310,000 initial and 2.660 million continuing claims.
The four-week average of initial claims were down 1,000 in the week ended May 17 to 322,500.
