Jobless Figures Rise With More Hurricane-Related Claims
he number of U.S. workers filing initial unemployment benefits rose 21,000 last week to 390,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The rise for the week ended Oct. 1 was unexpected, as economists expected about 350,000 total claims, Bloomberg reported.
About 74,000 of last week’s claims were a result of jobless people from Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina, Bloomberg said, citing a Labor Department spokesman, though the official gave no breakdown between the storms.
The number of people filing continuing jobless claims rose to 2.905 million for the previous week ended Sept. 24, from 2.787 million a week earlier, Labor said.
Ìý