Initial jobless claims grew 5,000 to 320,000 in the week ended March 15, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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Claims for the week ended March 8 were unrevised at 315,000.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.889 million in the week ended March 8, up from the downwardly revised 2.848 million the week before, first reported as 2.855 million.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 322,000 initial and 2.865 million continuing claims.
The four-week average of initial claims were down 3,500 in the week ended March 15 to 327,000.
