The growth of the U.S. economy declined more than forecast in the first quarter as government spending declined, Bloomberg reported.

Gross domestic product rose at a 1.8 percent annual rate from January through March after a 3.1 percent pace in the final three months of 2010, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Economists had projected 2 percent growth.

“We’ve sputtered a bit here,” said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, N.C., in an interview with Bloomberg. “Consumers are going to continue to spend. Growth should pick up toward the 3 percent level” later this year.

New applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to the highest level in three months, a report from the U.S. Department of Labor showed. Unemployment insurance claims rose by 25,000 to 429,000. The government traditionally anticipates a drop in unadjusted claims during the week leading up to the Easter holiday, something that didn’t happen this year, a Labor Department spokesman told Bloomberg.

Also, federal, state and local government spending declined at a 3.3 percent annual pace in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said, the second-fastest pace since 1981.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday at a news conference that any first-quarter economic slowdown is “transitory.”