New claims for unemployment insurance in U.S. jump to 7-year high as economy, hurricanes
wreak havoc on people's jobs, lives.
The Department of Labor reported that initial filings for state jobless benefits increased
by 1,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 497,000 -- the highest since the 517,000 reported in
the almost identical week in September 2001, and more than 150,000 more than this time
last year when the jobless claims number stood at 324,000.
Furthermore, the number of people continuing to collect unemployment insurance increased by
48,000 to 3,591,000.
Finally, in the September employment report due out tomorrow, experts expect to see that
the U.S. economy will see net job losses of more than 100,000 jobs -- continuing the trend
started in January -- and that is expected to continue for perhaps the rest of the year.
