Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 21 rose by 21,000 to 377,000, compared with the previous week’s revised figure of 356,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 377,500, a drop of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 380,000.

DOL figures show that the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Jan. 7, the most recent week for which such data is available, was 7,638,233, down by 188,612 people from the previous week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 14 were:

• Florida (+2,711)
• California (+1,682)
• Iowa (+596)
• West Virginia (+571)
• District of Columbia (+115)

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