WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (AFP) - The number of newly jobless Americans surged last week, partially reversing a three-year record slump the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The data, frequently volatile during the end-of-year holiday period, showed new claims for unemployment benefits rose by a seasonally adjusted 17,000 to 333,000 in the week ended December 18.
The previous week, claims had plunged 45,000, the steepest decline since December 2001.
A four-week average of claims, which irons out some weekly wrinkles, rose 2,250 to 340,000.
In raw, unadjusted figures, the number of new claims rose 6,213 to 376,611 in the last week, the Labor Department said. There were 424,192 new claimants in the comparable period last year.
The number of people already making claims for at least two weeks dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.72 million in the week ended December 11, the latest date for which those figures are available.
12/23/2004 14:03 GMT - AFP