The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by more than economists expected last week in yet another reminder of continued weakness in the labor market.
Initial unemployment claims increased by 12,000 to 465,000 in the week ended Sept. 18, the Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday. New claims for the previous week, ended Sept. 11, were revised upward to 453,000 from 450,000. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected new claims would rise by only 3,000. But in a more positive sign, the four-week moving average, which aims to smooth volatility in the data, fell by 3,250 to 463,250.
This latest rise in jobless claims comes as Federal Reserve officials weigh taking further actions to help stimulate the economy amid concern about low levels of inflation and continued high joblessness. In a statement earlier this week, the Federal Open Market Committee said that household spending remains constrained due to "high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth and tight credit." The FOMC members added that they were "prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery."
A Labor Department economist Thursday said a rise in claims is generally expected in the reporting week after a federal holiday, but this year the filings went up by a little more than anticipated.
In the Labor Department's claims report Thursday, the number of continuing claims -- those drawn by workers for more than one week in the week ended Sept. 11 -- fell by 48,000 to 4,489,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,537,000. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance for the week ended Sept. 11 was 3.5%, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the prior week's revised rate of 3.6%.
The report's state-by-state breakdown of new claims for the week ended Sept. 11 shows that the largest increase in claims took place in Florida, which saw a rise of 2,755 claims due to layoffs in the construction, service, manufacturing and agricultural industries.
California had the largest decrease in claims with a fall of 10,754 due to a shorter work week and fewer layoffs in the service industry.
A Labor Department economist said Thursday that the latest claims figures contain estimates for Nebraska.
