Jobless claims rise by 2,000

The department said the four-week rolling average for initial claims rose by 14,250 to 473,500, partly due to last week's gain of 19,000 initial filings.
The U.S. unemployment rate is 9.5 percent.

The biggest increases in claims for the week ending July 31 were reported by Wisconsin, with 1,901 additional claims, Georgia, which added 1,738, and Pennsylvania, which added 1,536, the report said.

For the week ending June 31, the biggest decrease was reported by Indiana with a decline of 4,377, followed by Florida, where claims declined by 3,816, and Tennessee, where claims fell by 2,465 compared with the week ending July 24.
State statistics lag a week behind the national report.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).