The number of Americans seeking initial jobless benefits rose to their highest level in more than two months, the government said today.
First-time jobless claims, a guide to the job market and the pace of redundancies, rose for the second straight week.
It increased to 417,000 for the week ended February 22nd from a revised 406,000 the week before and its highest since 438,000 in the week ended December 14th, 2002.
Wall Street economists had forecast new claims of 386,000 for the latest week.
READ MORE
The US Labor Department said the massive snow storms that hit the eastern coast of the United States appeared to have had no effect on the initial claims data.