Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment insurance probably fell last week because people thrown out of work by Hurricane Katrina couldn't apply for benefits, economists said ahead of a government report today.

Claims dropped by 5,000 for the week ending Sept. 3 from the prior week's 320,000, according to the median forecast of 36 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Claims have averaged 324,000 a week this year, compared with about 346,000 for the same time last year, when employers added the most jobs since 1999.

Hurricane Katrina ripped into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, ravaging the coastal cities of New Orleans, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, that together account for about 1 million jobs, according to economists at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, New Jersey. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, whose district includes New Orleans and other areas hit by the hurricane, said unemployment claims may rise ``significantly'' in Louisiana and Mississippi in coming weeks.

``People were unable to make claims because of the hurricane,'' said David Sloan, chief U.S. market economist at 4Cast.com in New York. ``The labor market will certainly take a short-term hit in the aftermath of the hurricane, though only if gasoline prices remain higher will the economy take a sustained hit outside of the affected regions.''

The report is expected at 8:30 a.m. Washington time. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast claims ranging from 275,000 to as many as 375,000.

Oil Prices

A separate report at 10 a.m. from the Commerce Department may show that inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 0.6 percent in July after a 0.7 percent gain in June.

Jobless claims of about 325,000 to 350,000 a week suggest companies are creating about 150,000 to 200,000 jobs a month, according to Mike Englund, chief U.S. economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado. Jobless claims typically fall as hiring grows.

Katrina struck at the end of the month, so it didn't affect August payrolls, which showed a 169,000 increase in jobs and a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.9 percent, the lowest in four years. Job losses will begin to show up in coming weeks, and job creation may be slowed in the short term and gain later.

Crude oil prices topped $70 a barrel last week as the hurricane shut down operations in the Gulf of Mexico, which provides 30 percent of U.S. production.

While the effects of the hurricane may temporarily restrain growth, rising inflation pressures need to be addressed with ``appropriate'' increases in interest rates, Fed Bank of Chicago President Michael Moskow said in remarks at a Futures Industry Association luncheon in Chicago yesterday.

Forecasts Cut

Unit labor costs rose at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter and were up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the biggest increase since 2000, the Labor Department said yesterday.

The hurricane struck after economists forecast economic growth would accelerate to a 4.1 percent annual pace in the third quarter from 3.3 percent in the second. Morgan Stanley & Co. yesterday cut its forecast for economic growth in 2005 to 3.5 percent from 3.8 percent.

``Certainly, in the short term, the regional devastation is very significant,'' Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in a television interview yesterday. Still, she said construction spending should fuel a subsequent boom in job creation.

``New Orleans, for example, is going to see one of the biggest construction booms that they have ever seen,'' Chao said.

U.S. services industries, which represent the largest part of the economy, expanded for a 29th straight month in August, the Institute for Supply Management said on Sept. 6. The institute's measure of financial services, retail trade and other non- manufacturing services rose to its highest level this year.

Consumer Spending

Consumer spending rose 1 percent for a second month in July, matching June's as the biggest gain since May 2004. Consumers have financed some of their spending by tapping home equity in a real- estate market where home prices are near record levels.

New home sales unexpectedly rose to a record pace in July, as mortgage rates below 6 percent and steady employment growth continued to boost housing. Existing home sales fell from the previous month's record.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. is among companies that are hiring, said Chief Executive Officer Alan Levan in a Sept. 2 interview.

``We're opening new stores, and our existing stores are growing at a very rapid rate,'' he said. ``We're hiring at every level of the organization.''

Other companies, such as Ford Motor Co. are firing workers to boost competitiveness. The second-largest U.S. automaker will fire about 400 managers as part of its plan to cut 2,750 salaried workers by the end of the year.

The firings were disclosed in an e-mail sent to mid-level and senior managers earlier this month by Ford President Jim Padilla, spokesman Oscar Suris said on Aug. 20 in Dearborn, Michigan.

                         Bloomberg Survey

FIRM                        Jobless   Whlsle
                             Claims    Inv.
   ----------------------------------------
   Number of replies           36       27
   MEDIAN                     315      0.6%
   AVERAGE                    320      0.5%
   High Forecast              375      0.8%
   Low Forecast               275      0.1%
   Previous                   320      0.7%
   ----------------------------------------
   4CAST Ltd.                 310      0.3%
   Action Economics           320      0.8%
   BNP Paribas                300      0.1%
   B of A Capital             315      n/a
   Bantleon Bank AG           n/a      0.7%
   Barclays Capital           320      n/a
   Bear Stearns               n/a      0.7%
   Bank of Tokyo- Mitsub.     330      0.6%
   Briefing.com               375      0.6%
   CantorViewpoint            329      0.7%
   Citigroup                  295      0.6%
   Claymore Advisors          310      n/a
   Commerzbank                315      n/a
   Credit Suisse FB           n/a      0.4%
   Desjardins Group           305      0.3%
   Deutsche Bank Research     350      0.4%
   Dresdner Kleinwort         n/a      0.5%
   FTN Financial              310      n/a
   High Frequency Economics   275      0.5%
   HSBC Markets               315      n/a
   HypoVereinsbank            310      n/a
   I.D.E.A.                   345      0.6%
   ING Financial Markets      318      0.8%
   Informa Global Markets     317      0.5%
   Insight Economics          345      0.7%
   J.P. Morgan                315      n/a
   JPMorgan Asset Mg          335      n/a
   Lehman Brothers            320      0.5%
   Macroeconomic              315      n/a
   Mizuho Securities          340      0.5%
   Nesbitt Burns BMO          315      0.5%
   Nord/LB                    320      n/a
   Ried, Thunberg & Co.       305      0.7%
   Scotia Capital             n/a      0.3%
   Societe Generale           310      n/a
   Stone & McCarthy           350      0.6%
   Sumitomo                   325      n/a
   Thomson/IFR                300      0.7%
   UBS Securities LLC         310      n/a
   Westpac Banking            330      0.5%
   Wrightson                  310      0.7%

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Willis in Washington bwillis@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 8, 2005 00:10 EDT