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Jobless claims increase
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March 1, 2001: 9:01 a.m. ET
Weekly filings for benefits indicate U.S. labor market continues to soften
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The number of American workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits jumped by 39,000 last week, the government reported Thursday, indicating the labor market continued to soften.
The Labor Department said the increase pushed the total number of newly laid-off workers seeking benefits to 372,000 for the week ended Feb. 24 from a revised 333,000 in the previous week.
The four-week moving average of claims, which economists follow because it smoothes out week-to-week variation, rose by 5,500 to 352,500.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected the claims figure to total 350,000.
The Labor Department also released state data on jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 17. Oklahoma was the only state to report an increase in claims of more than 1,000 in the week ended Feb. 17, with a total of 2,564 claims. 
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