The ranks of Americans filling for initial unemployment compensation swelled last week but at least half of this increase was linked to devastation wrought by Hurricane Charley earlier this month, the government said on Thursday.
Initial jobless claims, a rough guide to the pace of U.S. layoffs, rose by a larger-than-expected 10,000 to 343,000 in the week ended Aug. 21 from an upwardly revised 333,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said,
The figures exceeded the forecasts of Wall Street economists who in a Reuters survey projected benefit applications would total 335,000, up from the originally reported 331,000 claims.
A Labor Department spokesman said about half the rise in first-time claims was due to damage from the hurricane, which swept through parts of Florida and the Carolinas two weeks ago.
The closely watched four-week moving average, which irons out week-to-week volatility, fell to 336,750 in the week ended Aug. 21 from 337,500 in the previous week.
The number of Americans who continued to draw benefits after a week edged up to 2.90 million in the week ended Aug. 14, the latest period for which data are available, from 2.89 million the week before.
