Weekly U.S. jobless claims jump 27,000 to 412,000 (by Jeffry Bartash)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - New applications by workers seeking unemployment benefits climbed by 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 412,000 in the week ended April 9, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected new applications for jobless benefits to drop to 380,000. The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, rose by 5,500 to 395,750. A Labor Department spokesman said claims typically jump in the week following the end of a quarter. Workers who wait to file in the next quarter sometimes can get higher benefits based on periodic adjustments in how they are calculated. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who continue to receive state unemployment checks decreased by 58,000 to 3.68 million in the week ended April 2. Altogether, 8.52 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week of March 26, little changed from the prior week.