Initial Jobless Claims Highest in 26 Years

Washington, DC, Dec. 24, 2008--The U.S. labor market continued to deteriorate, with the unemployment lines stretching to the longest in 26 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Initial applications for state unemployment benefits jumped by 30,000 to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 in the week ending Dec. 20, the government said.

That's the highest since November 1982. The four-week average of new claims rose by 13,750 to 558,000, the highest since December 1982.

Meanwhile, the number of people collecting benefits fell by 17,000 to 4.37 million in the week ending Dec. 13. The four-week average of continuing claims rose by 93,000 to 4.32 million, the most since December 1982.