Jobless claims increased by 21,000 to 313,000 in the week ended Nov. 22, the highest since early September, from 292,000 in the prior period, the Labor Department reported today in Washington.
Companies are holding on to more workers to keep pace with demand for domestic goods and services that has held up even as growth in overseas markets cools.
Somewhat counterbalancing the weak GDP reading was the latest granular signal from the labor market, which revealed ongoing improvement along with still strong consumer spending data within the accompanying GDP report
Jobless claims declined by 26,000 to 323,000 in the week ended March 1, the least since the end of November and fewer than any economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey.
