U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Soar To 26-Year High To 573,000 Last Week

December 11, 2008 1:16 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - U.S. weekly initial jobless claims for insurance jumped by 58,000 to 573,000, during the week ending Dec. 6, according to the data released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The claims were up by almost 59 percent from a year ago period.

Last week, the weekly jobless claims hit 26-year high level record and surged more than projected, following the claims reaching a 16-year high at 543,000 two weeks ago and a revised 515,000 the previous week.

The four-week average of initial jobless claims moved higher by 14,250 to 540,500 last week, compared to the claims at 526,250 the week prior, the report showed.

The four-week average, which smoothens out the weekly volatility, was at the highest level last week since December 1982.

The continuing number of individuals collecting regular state unemployment benefits moved up by 338,000 to a seasonally adjusted 4.43 million in the week ending Nov. 29, which was the most since 1974 level.

The continuing claims are up by as much as 58 percent from a year ago period. The four-week average of continuing claims increased 131,000 to 4.13 million, which is at the highest level since 1983., the report showed on Thursday.

Today's report showed that there were 11 states and territories reported a increase in initial jobless claims. The rest 42 registered a decline in the unemployment claims for the Nov. 22 week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 29 were in Wisconsin with 16,331, followed by Iowa (6,240), Arkansas (1,509), Mississippi (1,398), and North Dakota (1,391)

While, the largest decreases were reported in California (20,304), Florida (8,626), Missouri (8,347), Michigan (-7,323), and Texas (-7,129). in the week ending Nov. 29

The Labor Department report on Thursday showed the unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance, which tends to track the U.S. jobless rate, increased to 3.3 percent, which is the highest in 16 years, for the week ending Nov. 29.

Last week, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was higher by a 0.2 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.1 percent.

In November, the unemployment rate increased to 6.7 percent, pushing up the total number of jobs cut by the firms in different sectors to 1.9 million jobs during the eleven consecutive months in 2008.

U.S. companies fired as many as 533,000 jobs in the month of November, which is the highest since 1974, the Labor department reported jobs losses in the month of November on Dec. 5.