Jobless claims increased by 24,000 to 329,000 in the week ended April 19, the most in a month, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an increase to 315,000. The adjustment during spring holidays is hard to quantify from year to year, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press.

Looking beyond the swings, firings have slowed, which probably means employers are gaining confidence the world's largest economy is strengthening. Claims dropped to the lowest level since 2007 at the start of the month, a sign the companies are seeing string-enough sales to retain staff.

"It is the week leading up to Easter, so you have to be wary," Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, said before the report. "The trend has clearly been coming down — if anything, the claims data are signaling a pickup in employment growth."