WASHINGTON, Feb 19 - The number of Americans lining up for an initial week of jobless benefits took an unexpectedly sharp tumble last week from a level that had been boosted by cold weather, a government report showed on Thursday. First-time claims for state unemployment aid dropped 24,000 to 344,000 in the week ended Feb. 14 from a revised 368,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said.
Economists on Wall Street had expected claims to drop to 353,000 from the 363,000 originally reported for the prior week. The closely watched four-week moving average, seen as a more reliable gauge of the pace of layoffs because it smooths short-term swings, rose slightly to 352,000 from 351,750 the week before. A rise in initial claims in the prior two weeks had been pinned on unseasonably cold weather in the Southeast, which kept construction employees off the job. A department official suggested warmer weather contributed to last week's drop in claims, the largest decline since the week ended Nov. 1. "There were some sharp declines in states that had reported weather-related increases in the prior weeks," he said. Claims have been below the 400,000 level normally linked by economists to a strengthening jobs market for 20 straight weeks, but hiring has remained anemic. Job gains have averaged just 73,000 over the last five months, well shy of the 150,000 or so new positions needed each month just to keep pace with growth in the labor force. The number of unemployed still on the benefit rolls after claiming an initial week of aid rose by a sharp 106,000 to 3.19 million in the Feb. 7 week, the latest for which figures are available. Still, so-called continued claims are well below the elevated levels they hit in the wake of the 2001 recession.//