First-time jobless claims rose by 4,000

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Labor Department Thursday said first-time jobless benefits claims rose by 4,000 in the week ending Saturday.

Initial unemployment benefits claims for the week came to 367,000, up from the revised figure of 363,000 for the previous week.

The four-week rolling average was 375,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised average.

The advance number of unadjusted actual first-time jobless benefits claims under state programs totaled 298,743 for the week, a decrease of 4,942 from the previous week, the Labor Department said.

There were 332,394 initial benefits claims in the comparable week in 2011, the department's Employment and Training Administration said.