By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week fell by 10,000 to 340,000, but initial claims are still above end-of-summer levels even though California says it has fixed computer problems that delayed thousands of claims over the past two months. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to fall to a seasonally adjusted 337,000 in the week ended Oct. 26. The four-week average of claims, usually a more reliable number, rose by 8,000 to 356,250, touching the highest level since mid-April. Initial claims have gyrated sharply since early September because of processing delays in California, the nation's most populous state. The delays were triggered by a buggy computer-systems upgrade. California told Labor officials that their system is now working properly, but some newspaper reports in the state earlier this week indicated that there were still some scattered problems. Before the California problems arose, initial U.S. claims had been running around 325,000 a week. If claims are now up to date, it would suggest some softening in the labor market.
