<p>The figure was well above analysts' consensus forecast of 418,000 new claims.<br />The rolling four-week average of jobless claims, seen as a more reliable indicator of underlying trends in the labor market, climbed 4,000 to 419,500.<br /><br />The US economy created no net new jobs in August and official unemployment remained at 9.1 percent.<br /><br />The August report was the first since February 1945 to show no net change in employment.</p>.<p>Besides the disappointing numbers for August, the Labor Department also reduced its estimates for June and July by a total of 58,000, meaning that only 105,000 new jobs were created in the two-month period.<br /><br />Economists say the US needs to create around 150,000 new positions every month just to keep pace with population growth, while it will take a substantially higher rate of employment expansion to recoup the 8.4 million jobs destroyed in the recession.<br /><br />Past economic recoveries have seen an average of 250,000 new jobs created every month and weekly jobless claims well under 400,000.<br /><br />For the week ending Sep 3, the number of people receiving state unemployment benefits dropped by 12,000 to 3.73 million.<br /><br />Emergency federal programs to aid people who have exhausted their state benefits were serving 3.41 million during the week that ended Aug 27.<br /><br />The ranks of people who have been out of work for more than six months held steady in August at 6 million, representing 42.9 percent of the jobless.<br /><br />Workforce participation - the proportion of the population working or seeking work - climbed slightly last month to 64 percent after reaching a 27-year low in July.</p>
<p>The figure was well above analysts' consensus forecast of 418,000 new claims.<br />The rolling four-week average of jobless claims, seen as a more reliable indicator of underlying trends in the labor market, climbed 4,000 to 419,500.<br /><br />The US economy created no net new jobs in August and official unemployment remained at 9.1 percent.<br /><br />The August report was the first since February 1945 to show no net change in employment.</p>.<p>Besides the disappointing numbers for August, the Labor Department also reduced its estimates for June and July by a total of 58,000, meaning that only 105,000 new jobs were created in the two-month period.<br /><br />Economists say the US needs to create around 150,000 new positions every month just to keep pace with population growth, while it will take a substantially higher rate of employment expansion to recoup the 8.4 million jobs destroyed in the recession.<br /><br />Past economic recoveries have seen an average of 250,000 new jobs created every month and weekly jobless claims well under 400,000.<br /><br />For the week ending Sep 3, the number of people receiving state unemployment benefits dropped by 12,000 to 3.73 million.<br /><br />Emergency federal programs to aid people who have exhausted their state benefits were serving 3.41 million during the week that ended Aug 27.<br /><br />The ranks of people who have been out of work for more than six months held steady in August at 6 million, representing 42.9 percent of the jobless.<br /><br />Workforce participation - the proportion of the population working or seeking work - climbed slightly last month to 64 percent after reaching a 27-year low in July.</p>