US jobless claims rise, but labour recovery grinds on

Initial claims for unemployment benefits up by 16,000 to seasonally adjusted 360,000

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, although the level still appeared to point to healing in the nation's job market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the US Labor Department said on Thursday.

The reading was likely clouded by seasonal factors. The Labor Department can have a tough time seasonally adjusting claims in early July because many factories shut down during that period for retooling, but the scheduling for the shutdowns varies from year to year. A Labor Department analyst said there was nothing otherwise unusual in the data and that no states had provided estimates.