U.S. initial jobless claims came in higher than expected today, keeping the jobless recovery fears alive.

Claims rose by 13,000 to 399,000 in the week that ended Saturday, the Labor Department reported today. The estimate for the previous week was raised by 5,000 to 386,000.

Nonetheless, last week marked the second consecutive week that the number of claims has come in below 400,000, which economists generally interpret as a sign of a stabilizing labor market.

“The closing of government offices in the previous week due to hurricane Isabel delayed a number of claims from showing up in those numbers. As a result, a portion of the current week’s increase, around one-half, is a result of those delayed claims,” says RBC Financial

Also, RBC says, some market watchers were expecting a much worse reading after getting soft numbers on consumer confidence, the Chicago PMI, and the national ISM index. “As it stands now, claims data appears to be flat with a few tiny improvements in the latter part of the month,” it says. “Overall, this is indicative of an equally flat labour market — not the sought after description, but preferred to a worsening one.”

On a positive note, the four-week moving average fell from 408,500 to 403,500; however, continuing claims rose from 3.61 million to 3.67 million.