Jobless Claims Continue to Climb

First-time unemployment claims rose to the highest level in 16 years last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims jumped 27,000 for the week ended Saturday from the previous week, to 542,000, Labor said.

The level was greater than analysts’ forecasts of 505,000 claims for the week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 506,500, from 490,750 a week ago.

The number of continuing claims rose to 4.012 million, for the previous week ended Nov. 8, the highest since September 1982.

Job losses this year have totaled 1.2 million, Bloomberg reported.