LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Labor Department figures revealed that applications for jobless benefits increased by 34,000 to 386,000 in the week ended July 14. Economists forecast 365,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. According to officials, the volatility in the numbers was due to a change in the timing of annual automobile plant layoffs.

Applications for jobless benefits increased by 34,000 to 386,000 the week ending July 14, Labor Department figures showed today.

Estimates for first-time claims ranged from 350,000 to 390,000 in the Bloomberg News survey of 47 economists. The Labor Department initially reported the prior week's applications at 350,000.

The timing of car factory shutdowns in order to retool for the new model year has been hard to predict this year, making adjusting the claims data for these seasonal variations more challenging, the Labor Department official said.

The official said the adjustment process expected a decrease of about seven percent in unadjusted claims. Instead claims rose about two percent. The official said it will take a couple of weeks for the volatility to ease.

Chrysler Group LLC said that three U.S. plants would skip normally their scheduled two-week midyear shutdowns to meet increased demand in May. Two more plants would shut for one week instead of two. Ford said it would idle 13 plants for one week instead of two as part of the company's annual summer shutdown. Nissan Motor Co. is also boosting hours to meet consumer demand.

The number of people continuing to collect unemployment 1,000 in the week ended July 7 to 3.31 million. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

Those who've used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments decreased by about 85,000 to about 2.57 million in the week ended June 30.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.