In the week ended Aug. 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 450,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported. The four-week moving average was 440,500, an increase of 19,500, or 4.6%, from the previous week's revised average of 421,000.

The Department of Labor recently began a program to locate those eligible for jobless benefits, and it is unknown how much that program is impacting numbers of jobless claims, according to press reports.