WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- First-time claims for state unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly by the largest amount in eight months but government statisticians said special factors might have fueled the increase.
The number of initial claims in the week ending Jan. 16 rose 36,000 to 482,000, the Labor Department said.
The gain surprised economists. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists surveyed by MarketWatch was for claims to inch lower to 438,000.
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"It means claims were understated for the last few weeks and overstated for this week," said John Canally, economist for LPL Financial in Boston. [Really? for sure? ed.]
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Meanwhile, the total number of Americans receiving state jobless benefits fell 18,000 to 4.60 million in the week ending Jan 9. This is down from a peak of 6.77 million in late June.
This is not seen as a sign of improvement because many workers exhaust their state benefits before finding employment. There are federal programs in place for these workers.
Overall, a record 12 million Americans received federal and state unemployment benefits on an unadjusted basis in the week ended Jan. 2, the latest period for which the data is available. This is up from 10.9 million in the prior week. ...
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