In the week ending January 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 231,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 209,000. The 4-week moving average was 212,250, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 206,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending January 24, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 24 was 1,844,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level. ... (full story)

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week but remains in the same historically low range of the past few years. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 31 rose by 22,000 to 231,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s significantly more than the 211,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. Applications for unemployment benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. A number of high-profile companies have announced job ... (full story)