Jobless claims rise in holiday-distorted week WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, but the data continues to be too distorted by the holidays to offer a clear read of labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised to show 12,000 more applications than previously reported. Claims data reported for the week ended December 22 had been artificially depressed by the holidays, which resulted in data for 19 states being estimated. A Labor Department official said claims data for nine states, including California and Virginia, had been estimated last week because of the Christmas and New Year holidays. This suggests the numbers are subject to revisions next week. The claims data has no bearing on December's employment report, scheduled for release on Friday. Employers are expected to have added 150,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, little changed from 146,000 in November, according to a Reuters survey of economists. Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci