U.S. jobless claims shot up last week to their highest level in two years, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday, adding to concerns about that the U.S. economy is in recession. The report said that the number of new applications filed for unemployment insurance jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 407,000 for the week ending March 29. The figure is the highest since September 17, 2005, in the wake of two severe Gulf Coast hurricanes. The figures were worse than 365,000 claims economists had forecast. One government analyst suggested the increase could be related to the early timing of Easter this year, which meant claims that weren't filed or processed during the holiday week were pushed forward into the following week. However, a year ago, new claims stood at 319,000. The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits also rose, the report showed, up 97,000 to 2.94 million for the week ending March 22, the most recent period for which that information is available. That was the highest since July 17, 2004. Employers cuts jobs in January and February, and economists are predicting more losses when the government releases the March employment report on Friday. The nation's unemployment rate, now at 4.8 percent, is expected to rise to 5 percent in March. Some analyst project the rate could climb to 5.5 percent or higher by the end of this year.
