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U.S. initial jobless claims increase to 304,000

Xinhua, February 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid increased last week, while the four-week moving average of claims remained consistent with the upward trend of the job market.

For the week ended Feb. 7, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits increased to 304,000, 25,000 more than the revised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.

The department said there were no special factors impacting this week's initial jobless claims, a gauge of the pace of layoffs.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, edged down by 3,250 to 289,750 last week. The advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ended Jan. 31 decreased 51,000 from the previous week to 2,354,000.

U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in January, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.7 percent, indicating the job market was on the pipeline of steady recovery, the Department of Labor said earlier this month. Enditem