Last week the initial unemployment claims in the U.S. increased over last week by 4,000 for a total of 317,000. This number is slightly above what economists polled by the Wall Street Journal predicted of 310,000. The four-week moving average also increased by 4,750 to 315,250, but these numbers are still back down to pre-recession levels. Post-initial week unemployment claims filed also increased by about 11,000 to 2.61 million in the last week of May. Although unemployment claims are up slightly, most policy-makers are more concerned about the labor force participation rate.
See "U.S. Jobless Claims Up Slightly", Eric Morath, The Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2014