Unemployment filings in U.S. rise unexpectedly to 230,000

Jan. 13 (UPI) -- About 230,000 workers in the United States filed first-time unemployment claims last week -- an unexpected increase over the previous week, the Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday.

Initial jobless claims have been well under 250,000 for several weeks and even dipped below 200,000, to a 50-year low, in November and December.

Most analysts expected Thursday's unemployment snapshot to show about 200,000 new filings.

The new figure is an increase of about 23,000 over the previous week.

The department said the new four-week moving average is about 211,000, an increase of 6,200.

Thursday's report said that the most recent data show that New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut saw the largest increases in new claims -- while Missouri, Tennessee and Rhode Island saw the largest decreases in filings.