First-time jobless claims rise by 38,000

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. Labor Department said first-time jobless benefits claims rose by 38,000 in the week that ended Saturday.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits had dipped to pre-recession levels in the previous two weeks with a decline of 42,000. The latest week erased most of that gain.

The department said Thursday that the previous week's estimate of 330,000 was left unrevised.

For the week ending Saturday, total first-time unemployment benefits claims came to 368,000. The four-week rolling average for the week increased by 250 to 352,000.

In the current week, the unadjusted advance number of first-time unemployment benefits claims under state programs totaled 366,596 for the week, a 70,429 drop from the previous week, the Labor Department said.

For the comparable week of 2012, there were 422,287 initial claims.