First-time claims for unemployment benefits in the United States were up higher than expected in the week ending March 5, according to the jobless claims report (pdf) released March 10 by the U.S. Department of Labor. The latest weekly data shows the impact of the Omicron variant, which hit the United States earlier this winter, briefly disrupting the labor market’s recovery. But new applications for unemployment benefits are still near historically low levels as employers cling to workers in a tight labor market. Thursday’s report showed initial jobless claims rising to 227,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 216,000. The four-week average, which smooths out volatility, increased by 500 to 231,250 from the previous four-week revised average of 230,750. Jobless claims in the first week of March were revised upward to 216,000 from the 215,000 originally reported in the last full week of February, marking a two-month low, and …