First time jobless claims rise by 10,000

WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Labor Department said first-time jobless benefits claims rose by 10,000 to 344,000 in the week that ended Saturday.

The department revised last week's estimate from 340,000 to 344,000, meaning the prior week's decline was not 23,000, but 19,000.

The four-week rolling average for the week rose by 6,750 to 347,250.

The largest increases in initial benefits claims for the week ending May 18 were in South Carolina (up by 1,263), Tennessee (up by 1,191) and Missouri (up by 785).

The largest decreases were in California (down by 16,334), Georgia (down by 1,802) and Illinois down by 1,198.