WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits likely fell last week after rising sharply over the previous two weeks. A drop in applications could ease concerns that the job market is weakening.
Economists forecast that weekly applications declined 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 375,000 last week, according to a survey by FactSet. The Labor Department will release the report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Thursday.
Applications soared three weeks ago to 388,000, the highest level since early January. They dipped the following week, but remained high. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, is now at its highest level in nearly three months.
The increases have heightened concerns that job growth is slowing. Unemployment benefit applications are a measure of the pace of layoffs. When they fall below 375,000, it generally suggests hiring will be strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.
Earlier this month, a report showed that hiring weakened in March. Employers added only 120,000 jobs last month, half the average in the previous three months.
But many economists have downplayed the recent figures. Temporary layoffs stemming from the spring holidays may have inflated unemployment benefit applications. Many school employees are laid off during spring break and are eligible to file for benefits.
And weather may have distorted the March jobs report. A warmer winter likely pulled some hiring that normally would have occurred last month into January and February. They have noted that the economy has added an average of 212,000 jobs per month in the January-March quarter, well ahead of last year's pace.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that weather has likely disrupted recent data.
Warm weather "made perhaps January and February artificially strong and March perhaps artificially a little bit weak," he said at a press conference. "But we don't know yet. ... And I wouldn't draw too much conclusion from the March report."
The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.2 percent in March from 9.1 percent in August. Part of the drop was because people gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but not looking for jobs aren't counted among the unemployed.
Lower benefit applications indicate that companies are cutting fewer jobs. And economists note that unemployment benefit applications are lower than they were last year, which is a hopeful sign that March's weak numbers were a temporary lull.
Economists will have a better idea of the trend in hiring when the government issues the April jobs report next month.
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