US first-time jobless claims rise by 8000 in week

First-time unemployment benefits claims rose by 8,000 to 339,000 in the week that ended Saturday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. First-time claims fell from an unrevised 331,000, the department said Thursday. The four-week rolling average of first-time jobless claims, concurrently, rose by 3,500 to 333,250. The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Feb. 1 were in Wisconsin with a gain of 5,041, New York, up by 4,830 and Pennsylvania, up by 2,448. The largest decreases were in California with a drop of 9,631, Georgia down by 2,558 and Indiana with a decline of 2,444.