Jobless claims highest in more than 2 months

WASHINGTON - The number of U.S. workers who filed new applications for jobless benefits jumped 35,000 last week to 445,000, the highest level in more than two months, as a government official attributed the sharp increase largely to administrative backlogs.

Still, the sharp rise in new claims, which had fallen steadily since last summer, is likely to put investors on guard following a disappointing December employment report last week.

Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected initial claims in the week ended Jan. 8 to fall to a seasonally adjusted 405,000. Last week's claims were revised up by 1,000 to 410,000.

Scott Gibbons, a Labor Department spokesman, said the data can be particularly volatile in the first few weeks of January following the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Some people don't file claims right away and state unemployment offices are open fewer hours, leading to administrative delays.

The second week of January typically registers the highest number of claims each year, when seasonal factors are omitted. "I don't think there all of a sudden is a bunch of additional layoffs," Gibbons said.

Economists said the latest claims report may be an aberration. The four-week average of new claims rose a much smaller 5,500 to 416,500. The moving average is considered a more accurate measure of employment trends because it evens out fluctuations in the weekly data that can give a distorted picture of the labor market.

The number of people who continue to receive unemployment checks dropped by 248,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.88 million in the week ended Jan. 1. The four-week average fell by 72,000 to 4.06 million. - MarketWatch