The recent recovery in U.S. employment stalled last week, with the Labor Department reporting Thursday the number of people initially applying for unemployment aid hitting its highest level in two and a half months.

The department said the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 380,000 in the week ending April 7, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's revised figure.

The fresh figure was the highest since January 28. The number of jobless claims needs to be below 375,000 in order to sustain a drop in the unemployment rate.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, edged up by 4,250 to 368,500.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 31 was 3.251 million, a decrease of 98,000 from one week earlier.

In March, U.S. businesses added only 120,000 net jobs, half as many as in February and the fewest in five months. It indicated the job market had a long way to go before it fully recovered from the recession, and the current 8.2 percent unemployment is still painfully high.