Forex

08:31 02/28 (CEP News) Washington – U.S. initial jobless claims spiked up by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 373,000 in the week ending Feb. 23, from an upwardly revised 354,000 in the prior week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. Weekly claims are edging up to a recessionary level, which many economists view as being near 400,000.

Jobless claims came in above the consensus forecast of 350,000. A year ago, seasonally adjusted claims stood at 337,000. Claims in the week were at their highest level since Jan. 26 when they reached 378,000.

However, the four-week moving average of jobless claims fell by 1,250 to 360,500 from the prior week’s upwardly revised figure of 361,750. Bear Stearns economists were looking for the four-week average to fall even further to 353,500. Economists say the four-week average is a better indication of labour market conditions than the more volatile weekly jobless numbers.

Seasonally adjusted continuing claims for the week ending Feb. 16 jumped to 2.807 million, up 21,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 2.786 million. Continuing claims were last at this level on Oct. 8, 2005 when they stood at 2.820 million, and have increased for two consecutive weeks. The consensus forecast was looking for 2.785 million.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims reached its highest level since Oct. 22, 2005, coming in at 2,777,500. This represents an increase of 24,250 over the prior week’s revised average of 2,753,250.

Economists believe that most of the softness in the U.S. labour market is a result of slower hiring rathrer than rising layoffs.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ending Feb. 16 was 2.1%, unchanged from the previous week.

Unadjusted jobless claims for the week ending Feb. 23 increased 2,447 to 328,178 from the previous week. For the same week in 2007, unadjusted initial claims were 299,000.

DOL analysts noted that that the seasonally adjusted jobless claims count included the Presidents Day holiday.

In the states, the largest increases in claims for the week ending Feb. 16 were in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Louisiana, while the largest decreases were in California, Kentucky and Illinois.