WASHINGTON — New claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, a trend many economists say is likely to continue for much of this year.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time requests for unemployment insurance jumped to a seasonally adjusted 524,000 in the week ending Jan. 10, from an upwardly revised figure of 470,000 the previous week. Analysts had expected 500,000 new claims.
The increase is partly due to a flood of requests from newly laid-off people who delayed filing claims over the holidays, a Labor Department analyst said.
The layoffs continued Thursday. MeadWestvaco, which makes paper and plastic products, said it will cut some 2,000 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, as it accelerates cost savings, and software company Autodesk said it is cutting 750 jobs.
The rise in initial claims came after two weeks of declines that economists said largely reflected those holiday-related distortions in the data. Analysts have said retailers did not hire as many temporary seasonal workers this year because of the recession, and so there weren’t as many subsequent layoffs.
But the jump in last week’s numbers, combined with a slew of layoffs already announced this week, could signal the resumption of an upward trend that was evident last year.
Separately, the Labor Department said wholesale prices fell by 1.9 percent in December, closing out a year in which prices dropped by the largest amount in seven years. The decline was led by energy prices. The Associated Press
