The US Department of Labor said today that the number of first-time US workers last week applied for the unemployment benefit has undergone an unexpected increase, in stark contrast with the most recent signs of the stars and stripes economy which had seemed to be slowly but constantly improving.
In the week ending January 7, jobless claims increased by 24 to 399, against an expected increase of only 8 units to 380. In the week ending December 31st the data it had reached 375 units, against an initial estimate of 372. The moving average of the last 4 weeks, the most reliable figure, increased by 7.750 units, reaching 381.750.
