WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New applications for unemployment benefits fell by 22,000 last week, but the number of workers remaining on jobless aid rose to its highest level in more than two years, government data on Thursday showed, pointing to a weakening labor market as the economy slows.
The number of workers filing first-time claims for state jobless aid fell to a seasonally adjusted 356,000 in the week ended February 2, from an upwardly revised 378,000 for the previous week, the Labor Department said.
Wall Street economists were expecting a bigger drop in new claims to 340,000 from the originally reported 375,000 for the week ended January 26. The sharp jump in claims that previous week was skewed by the holiday-shortened workweek due to the observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday, a Labor Department official said.
But in a sign the long-term jobless continue to struggle to find work, the number of people remaining on benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid rose hit its highest level since October 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
These so-called continued claims rose by 75,000 to 2.79 million in the week ended January 26, the latest period these figures were available. Economists forecast continued claims at 2.73 million.
(Reporting by Nancy Waitz, editing by Joanne Morrison)
