USA: Increase in jobless claims to 248,000 | Photo credits: Forum Cabinet ADP Employment at Atlanta airport, March 27, 2018 / Sipa
WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – U.S. jobless claims rose in the week to Feb. 12 to 248,000 from a revised 225,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Economists expected an average of 219,000 jobless claims.
Registrations for the week to February 5 have been revised up from an initial estimate of 223,000.
The moving average over four weeks stands at 243.250 against 253.750 (revised) the previous week.
The number of people regularly receiving benefits rose to 1.593 million during the week to February 5 (last week for which these figures are available) against 1.619 million the previous week. (Report Lucia Mutikani; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)