There were 23,000 to 248,000 new applications for unemployment benefits a week ago, but layoffs are expected to be low as companies try to fill a near-record 11 million job openings.
The Labor Department said that initial jobless claims rose from a revised 225,000 in the previous week.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had predicted initial jobless claims to total a seasonally adjusted 218,000 in the seven days ended February 12.
The average jobless claims for the month that smooths out the weekly ups and downs fell by 10,500 to 243,250. In mid-January, the new unemployment filings went down again, but fell back in mid-January.
The rise in claims is unlikely to last. Businesses flush with demand for goods and services are trying to avoid layoffs because of the biggest labor shortage in decades.
They have almost 11 million jobs to fill, and they have a record number of jobs to fill. Most companies want to hire but they can't find enough takers.
The raw number of new jobless claims — before seasonal adjustments — was little changed last week. The headline number was a result of seasonal adjustments, which suggests that the increase in the headline number was largely due to that.
The raw data shows a significant increase in new claims in Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. Most of the states had declines.
The number of people who were already receiving unemployment benefits fell by 26,000 to 1.59 million in the week ending February 5.
These continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, have returned to pre-crisis levels and are extremely low.
According to Mahir Rasheed, U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, "Look ahead, we expect initial claims to continue to grind back toward 200,000." In a tight labor market where employers are struggling to hire workers, layoffs are expected to be minimal. Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX, were set to open lower on Thursday after reports of Russia military action along the Ukraine border.