The US four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 268,250 last week, up 10,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by the US Department of Labor.

The four-week moving average decreases the volatility of the weekly numbers. Total initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended May 7 were 294,000, up 20,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level. This is the highest level for initial claims since Feb. 28, 2015, when it was 310,000.

Despite the increase, this marks 62 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1973.

No special factors affected this week’s initial claims.

Bloomberg reported a surge of filings in New York state, where claims jumped by 14,647, fueled the increase. The median forecast in its survey of economists called for initial claims to decline to 270,000.

“New York accounted for most of the increase,” Jacob Oubina, a senior US economist at RBC Capital markets LLC in New York told Bloomberg. “It’s not a clean read.”