WASHINGTON — For a 10th straight week, the number of people who are continuing to claim jobless benefits increased, fresh evidence that the labor market remains weak despite other hopeful signs that the recession may be nearing a bottom. New claims for unemployment benefits last week rose to a seasonally adjusted 652,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 644,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The dismal job news is one indicator of the overall economic pain Americans have endured early in the new year. The Commerce Department said Thursday that the economy shrank at a 6.3 percent annual pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, and a bit faster than the 6.2 percent drop estimated a month ago.
Some economists project the economy is contracting in the current quarter at a 5 to 6 percent pace, still very weak by historical standards but slightly better than the end of last year. Nariman Beh ravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, has a more bearish outlook. He expects a drop between 7 and 8 percent in the January-March period.
“On the other hand, ‘the worst of the worst’ is probably behind us,” he added.
