Applications For Jobless Aid Rise Sharply

The number of people seeking jobless benefits jumped sharply last week, after two straight weeks of declines.

The increase undermines hopes that unemployment claims, after falling four times in the previous five weeks, were on a sustained downward trend. That would signal layoffs were slowing and hiring was picking up. Instead, claims remain stuck at an elevated level.

The report comes a day before the Labor Department is scheduled to release the jobs figures for October. With claims dropping only modestly over the past month, economists aren't expecting much progress. They forecast that the jobs report will show employers added a net total of 60,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate remained 9.6 percent for the third straight month.

A gain of 60,000 jobs is far below the 200,000 jobs a month needed to keep up with population growth and to help get some of the 15 million unemployed back to work.

"Those looking for an imminent spurt of job creation are ... likely to be disappointed," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak, in a note to clients.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment aid rose by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 457,000 for the week ending Oct. 30.Read more>>