The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits fell last week for the first time in a month, down 27,000 to 365,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 392,000 from 388,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had projected claims would drop to a seasonally adjusted 378,000 in the week ended April 28. The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, edged up by 750 to 383,500, the highest level since early December. Continuing claims decreased by 53,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.28 million in the week ended April 21, the Labor Department said. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag. About 6.6 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended April 14, down 85,523 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag.

Copyright © 2012 MarketWatch, Inc.