Jobless claims fell to 349,000 from 358,000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of workers applying for jobless aid last week fell to 349,000 from an upwardly revised 358,000, but the less volatile four-week moving average of these applications stood at the highest level in more than two years, government data on Thursday showed.

Economists polled by Reuters were expecting the weekly jobless claims numbers to increase slightly to a seasonally adjusted 350,000 for the week ended February 16 from the Labor Department's earlier estimate of 348,000.

A department official said estimates from California were behind the large upward revision for the prior week.

The four-week moving average, which irons out weekly fluctuations in the data, rose to 360,500 from 349,750 in the prior week, which was the highest level since October 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In further signs of labor market weakness, the number of workers remaining on state jobless benefits edged up to 2.78 million from 2.74 million for the week ended February 9, the most recent week these data were available.

That was also the highest level since October 2005 and slightly above the 2.76 million continued claims economists were expecting.

(Reporting By Joanne Morrison; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)