Initial Jobless Claims Rise for Week

Initial jobless claims increased by 78,000 last week due to Hurricane Sandy, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims increased to 439,000 for the week ended Saturday, the most since April 2011, from an upwardly revised 361,000, Labor said.

The initial claims figure was higher than economists’ forecasts of 375,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, rose to 383,750 last week from 372,000.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Nov. 10 climbed by 171,000 to 3.33 million