The number of Americans lining up for first-time jobless benefits rose by 54,000 last week, the government said today in a report that showed continued weakening in the US labour market.
The number of workers filing initial jobless claims for the week ended November 24th, hit 488,000, the US labor department reported, well above the economists’ forecasts.
Those workers out of jobs are staying that way, according to the report. The number of so called continued claims rose by 301,000 to 4.02 million for the week ended November 17th, the biggest one-week increase in 27 years.