WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims increased 25,000 to 410,000 in the week ending Feb. 12, the first increase in three weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing jobless claims increased to 3.911 million for the week ending Feb. 5 from 3.910 million reported for the prior week.
The initial claims for the week ending Feb. 5 were revised slightly higher to 385,000 from 383,000 reported last week, which was the lowest level since July 2008.
Initial claims data has been volatile through the first seven weeks of 2011 as severe winter storms immobilized much of the country. Claims jumped to 457,000 for the week ending Jan. 22 then dropped to 385,000 in the first week of February.
Economists expected 400,000 initial claims and 3.90 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The four-week moving average of initial claims increased to 417,750 from 416,000. The four-week average for continuing claims increased to 3.942 million.
Alaska and Puerto Rico had their initial claims data estimated for last week, a Labor Department official said.
