New US jobless claims jump to 480,000
05 Feb 2010
Initial US claims for unemployment insurance rose last week, official data by the Labour Department showed on Thursday.
Seasonally-adjusted initial claims rose to 480,000 in the week ending 30 January, up 8,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 472,000.
The increasing number of people claiming extended unemployment insurance indicates hiring has not picked up and the economy is still not out of recession.
The reading was worse than the consensus forecast of 455,000 new claims, and much higher than the month ago.
For the week ended 26 December 2009 fresh unemployment insurance claims were at 432,000, the lowest since July 2008 (See: US jobless claims fall to a 14-month low of 432,000).
The four-week moving average was 468,750, an increase of 11,750 from the previous week's revised average of 457,000.