U.S. initial jobless claims increased
after a week that included the President’s Day holiday and left
people with fewer days to file.
First-time claims rose to 327,000 for the week that ended
March 5 from 310,000, the Labor Department said Thursday in
Washington. The four-week average of claims, a less volatile
measure, increased to 312,500 from 306,750, which was the lowest
in more than four years.
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Claims are down from a weekly average of 343,000 last year,
indicating employers are retaining workers to meet demand. U.S.
employers added 262,000 workers last month, the most since
October, the Labor Department reported March 4.
“The labor market’s not tight but it’s tightening,” said
Roger Kubarych, a former Federal Reserve economist who is now a
senior economic adviser at HVB America Inc. in New York. “The
four-week moving average is a terrific number and this report is
not inconsistent with the gradual-improvement story in the labor
market.”
The economy created 2.2 million jobs in 2004, the most in
five years as companies hired more to meet increased demand in an
economy that expanded 4.4 percent, the most since 1999. Increased
hiring is helping to sustain consumer spending that grew 3.8
percent last year, the most since 2000.
Verizon Communications Inc., the largest U.S. telephone
company, opened this week a new broadband-products call center in
Hampton, Va., that will have 180 new employees by the end of
the month, the company said. The company plans to open additional
such new centers in Syracuse, N.Y.; Providence; and Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Bloomberg News
