Rising U.S. jobless claims more bad news for economy

The number of Americans who have received more than one unemployment insurance payment has risen to an all-time high, according to new data released Thursday.

U.S. continuing jobless insurance claims hit 5.7 million for the week ended March 28, the 10th week in a row the measure of long-lasting unemployment set a record.

The news was even worse taking into consideration the number of first-time claimants for the week, which jumped unexpectedly to 669,000. Economists had anticipated a figure more in the range of 650,000.

The other major unemployment claims measure — the four-week moving average — also showed an increase to 656,750, up from 649,500 in the last period.

"New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing trend suggests a deteriorating labour market," said the website Econoday, which provides analysis of a variety of U.S. indicators.

Experts have been sifting through the economic tea leaves for weeks, trying to find out if the U.S. financial deterioration is slowing.

Auto Data Processing, however, said this week that U.S. private firms chopped approximately 750,000 jobs from their payrolls in March. That figure does not include governments and non-profit organizations, organizations which had been expanding their staffs marginally.

Still, the jobless claims and ADP's report indicate the labour market remains stalled.

"From an employment perspective, this is already the deepest U.S. recession since 1958," said BMO Economics economist Benjamin Reitzes last month when U.S. employment dropped by 651,000.

U.S. unemployment has jumped to 8.1 per cent in February, compared with 4.8 per cent for the same month one year ago.

The American unemployment rate for March is set to be released on Friday.