The number of newly laid-off workers claiming unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The Labor Department said that first-time jobless claims dropped by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 470,000. Analysts had expected a steeper drop to 450,000, according to Thomson Reuters. The four week average rose for the second straight week to 456,250. The average had fallen for 19 straight weeks before starting to rise. That decline had given some analysts hope the economy would soon generate net job gains. Two weeks ago, claims surged by 34,000 due to administrative backlogs left over from the holidays in the state agencies that process the claims, a Labor Department analyst said. Those delays may still be affecting the data, the analyst said. Claims have dropped since the same time last year, as companies cut fewer jobs. In late December, initial claims fell to their lowest level since July 2008, before the financial crisis intensified that September. Despite the downward trend over the winter, the economy is not yet consistently generating net increases in jobs. The Labor Department said earlier this month that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, after adding 4,000 in November. November's small increase was the first in nearly two years. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 10 percent. The number of people continuing to claim benefits, meanwhile, dropped by 57,000 to 4.6 million. But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits typically provided by states, and are receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government. More than 5.6 million people were receiving extended benefits in the week ended January 9, the latest data available-about 300,000 fewer than the previous week. In total, over 10 million people are receiving unemployment assistance.
