New Jobless Claims Increase
By LUCA DI LEO
U.S. jobless claims rose last week in another reminder of the sluggish pace of the labor market's recovery, but some analysts dismissed the increase as a fluke likely caused by snowstorms that shut down government offices.
The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped by 31,000 to 473,000 in the week ended Feb. 13, the Labor Department said Thursday. Bad weather can make it harder to calculate jobless claims, among other things making it more difficult for state agencies that collect and process the numbers to adjust for seasonality and forcing some states to simply estimate claim levels.
To be sure, some analysts saw the number as a sign that layoffs still persist. "The 31,000 increase largely reverses a 41,000 drop in the prior week and leads to new concerns that jobless claims are stalling at a high level," said Abiel Reinhart, economist at J.P. Morgan Chase.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which aims to smooth volatility in the data, fell by 1,500 to 467,500 from the previous week's revised average of 469,000. Continuing claims, drawn by workers for more than one week, were unchanged at 4.6 million for the week ended Feb. 6.
