WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who signed up for state unemployment benefits jumped 13,000 to 462,000 in the latest week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected initial claims to fall to a seasonally adjusted 444,000 in the week ended Oct. 9. Claims for last week were revised up by 4,000 to 449,000. The four-week moving average of new claims, a more accurate gauge of employment trends than the volatile weekly number, rose 2,250 to 459,000. Continuing claims, which reflect workers already receiving unemployment checks, dropped 112,000 to 4.4 million in the week ended Oct. 2. The number of jobless workers receiving extended federal benefits declined 340,000 to about 4.8 million in the week ended Sept. 25, the latest data available. Altogether, 8.65 million people were getting some kind of benefit in the week ended Sept. 25, down from 9.02 million the prior week.