WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed much more than expected in the week ended February 22nd.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 242,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 221,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous month.
With the much bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting a matching figure in the week ended December 7th.
FHN Financial Chief Economist Chris Low said the increase in jobless claims likely reflected 'at least some of the federal workers let go in the first round of layoffs, though it could also reflect Los Angelinos caught up in the massive fires in the city.'
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also crept up to 224,000, an increase of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average of 215,500.
Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, edged down by 5,000 to 1.862 million in the week ended February 15th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still inched up to 1,865,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,862,000.
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