Unemployment rolls hit 4.5 million

WASHINGTON - The number of laid-off workers drawing unemployment benefits rose to 4.5 million in late December, the federal government reported yesterday, and more Americans are expected to join the ranks of the jobless in 2009.

While new applications for jobless benefits dropped in the week that ended Dec. 20, economists attributed that mostly to the Christmas holiday, when unemployment offices were closed, and cautioned that a more accurate picture of layoff filings will not become clear until the holiday season is passed, around mid-January.

All in all, the picture that emerged yesterday was largely grim and is not expected to improve soon.

"It wasn't a very merry Christmas for most of the labor force, and it doesn't look like it will be a very happy New Year, either," said Richard Yamarone, an economist at Argus Research.

The Labor Department's report showed that people already drawing unemployment benefits jumped by 140,000 to 4.5 million in the week before Christmas, the most recent period for which that information was available. The larger-than-expected increase underscored the difficulties the unemployed are having in finding jobs.

That left continuing claims at their highest since early December 1982, when the country was emerging from a deep recession, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.

A year ago, the number of people drawing jobless benefits was 2.7 million.

In Pennsylvania, 266,070 people were receiving unemployment insurance, up 5,910 from the week before. New Jersey's recipients totaled 162,919, a weekly increase of 5,998. The latest state figures are for the week ended Dec. 13.

Yesterday's report also showed that the number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time applications for jobless benefits nationwide dropped by a seasonally adjusted 94,000 to 492,000 for the week ending Dec. 27. The new-claims data are always one week ahead of the continuing-benefits figure.

Even with the drop, new filings remained elevated. A year ago, claims stood at 339,000.

Economists said that they expected the number of people drawing benefits to rise to around 4.38 million and that first-time applications for unemployment benefits would drop to around 550,000.

Meanwhile, the nation's unemployment rate - which zoomed to a 15-year high of 6.7 percent in November - is expected to rise to 7 percent in December, when the government releases that report next week. If that proves correct, it would be the highest since June 1993. Economists also are predicting that employers eliminated 478,000 jobs in December. In November, 533,000 jobs vanished.

Many economists say they believe the unemployment rate will keep climbing, hitting 8 percent or close to 10 percent at the end of 2009.