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Claims for U.S. jobless aid suggest modest hiring
By The Associated Press
This article was published February 21, 2013 at 8:26 a.m.
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped 20,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 362,000, though it remained at a level consistent with modest hiring.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose 8,000 to 360,750, the highest in six weeks.
A department spokesman said heavy snowstorms in the Northeast didn’t affect the total.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have trended downward recently. The four-week average has declined 7.5 percent since mid-November and fell to a five-year low three weeks ago.
Still, the increase puts applications back in the 360,000-to-390,000 range, where they have fluctuated since early last year.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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