Unemployment Claims Rise to 26-Year High

First-time unemployment claims rose to a 26-year high last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims rose by 58,000 to 573,000 for the week ended Saturday, Labor said.

The level was less than analysts’ forecasts of 525,000 claims for the week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 540,500, from 509,000.

The number of continuing claims rose to 4.429 million for the previous week ended Nov. 29, the most since December 1982.