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First-Time Jobless Claims Ease Slightly

December 4, 2008

New claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week but the number of people continuing to receive aid has reached a 26-year high.

The Labor Department said first-time claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 509,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 530,000 for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits last week reached 4.09 million, the highest level since December 1982, when the economy was emerging from a recession.

The four-week average of initial claims, which smooths out fluctuations, increased to 524,500, also the highest level since December 1982, the department said.

The U.S. work force is roughly 50 percent larger than it was in the early 1980s. As a result, the department said the proportion of workers continuing to receive jobless benefits matches a level reached 16 years ago, in September 1992, when the economy was slowly recovering from recession.