Weekly claims for unemployment insurance rose by 18,000 last week to 460,000, the Department of Labor reported today. Economists had been expecting claims to decrease.
There were 623,279 claims in the comparable week in 2009.
Meanwhile, the number of people claiming emergency extended benefits (for those who have exhausted all regular unemployment benefits) fell by 300,000 the week of March 20; that’s still 5.6 million people who have been out of work for 26 weeks or more.
