WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (AFP) - The queue of newly jobless Americans seeking unemployment benefits grew unexpectedly last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The number of people filing new unemployment benefit claims rose 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 357,000 in the week ended December 4, after surging 25,000 the previous week.
Wall Street analysts had predicted a moderate decline.
A four-week average, which removes some weekly blips, climbed 4,750 to 341,250.
In raw, unadjusted figures, the number of new claims shot up 147,256 to 467,554 in the week. There were 486,202 new claimants in the comparable period last year.
The number of people already making claims for at least two weeks rose 91,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.80 million in the week ended November 27, the latest date for which those figures are available.
12/09/2004 13:50 GMT - AFP