Number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits rises to 667,000. Continuing claims top 5 million for the first time.
The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment insurance spiked, and those living on unemployment benefits hit a record high, according to a government report released Thursday.
For the week ended Feb. 21, 667,000 Americans filed initial jobless claims, up 36,000 from a revised 631,000 the previous week. That's the highest figure since October 1982.
Economists polled by Briefing.com were expecting claims to drop to 625,000.
In a sign that more jobless Americans are having trouble finding work, 5,112,000 continued on unemployment for the week ended Feb. 14, the most recent data available. That's the highest number since the Labor Department began keeping records since 1967.
