New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week. The Labor Department reported that initial requests for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 in the week ending Dec. 20, from an upwardly revised figure of 556,000 the previous week. That's much more than the 560,000 economists had expected.
That's also the highest level of claims since November 1982, though the work force has grown by about half since then.
There was some improvement in the number of Americans continuing to seek unemployment benefits, which dropped slightly to 4.37 million from 4.39 million the previous week. Wall Street economists had expected the number to increase to 4.4 million.
The elevated level of new jobless applications is just one of several signs that the labor market has deteriorated rapidly in recent months.
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