Initial jobless claims rose 16,000 to 326,000 in the week ended March 29, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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Claims for the week ended March 22 were revised to 310,000 from the 311,000 initially reported.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.836 million in the week ended March 22, up from the downwardly revised 2.814 million the week before, first reported as 2.823 million.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 316,000 initial and 2.825 million continuing claims.
The four-week average of initial claims were up 250 in the week ended March 29 to 319,500.
