According to the Labor Department, the number of Americans filing for initial unemployment compensation last week increased by a greater than expected 10,000 to 343,000 with a department spokesman attributing at least half of this increase to devastation wrought by Hurricane Charley earlier this month. Since the beginning of the year jobless claims have been decreasing overall and economists see no reason for concern with a one week rise in new jobless claims.
See "Jobless Claims Rise on Back of Hurricane", Nancy Waitz, The Washington Post, August 25, 2004