First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended February 24th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 215,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 202,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 210,000 from the 201,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 212,500, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 215,500.

“We may see some increase in jobless claims as labor market conditions loosen a bit further, but we expect claims will remain below the level that would be consistent with no net job growth,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

The report also said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, climbed by 45,000 to 1.905 million in the week February 17th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims also edged up by 2,750 to 1,879,750, reaching the highest level since December 2021.

“On a four-week moving average basis, continued claims continued to drift higher,” said Vanden Houten. “That trend is consistent with other indicators showing that some unemployed individuals are finding it slightly more difficult to find new jobs.”

Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of February.