Weekly jobless claims inch up

WASHINGTON - More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the trend in benefit applications in the past month remained low.

The Labor Department says that weekly applications for unemployment aid rose 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 315,000, the most since late June. Still, the four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, rose just 750 to 304,000. The average is 7.1 percent lower than it was a year ago.

The data covers the week ended Sept. 6, which included the Labor Day holiday. Unemployment benefits data can be more volatile around holidays.

"This is nothing to worry about. The seasonal adjustment is tricky in the week of the Labor Day holiday; the last time the holiday fell on Sept. 1, in 1993, claims rose 15K, despite a clear downward trend," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. The four-week average fell to a seven-year low of 293,750 last month. Generally, fewer applications indicate employers are holding onto their staffs.