An unexpected rise of jobless benefits by U.S. workers was reported by the government last week. U.S. workers filed 7,000 claims last week. The Labor Department also announced that first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose from 318,000 from the previous weeks claims of 311,000. "In the week ending Sept. 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 318,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 311,000. The 4-week moving average was 315,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 315,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending Sept. 9, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Sept. 9 was 2,461,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,490,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,477,250, a decrease of 5,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,482,750." The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20061607.htm Pam