Jobless claims rise as retail sales slip (sales slip less than expected, rise in January)

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – With layoffs spreading, the number of initial claims for jobless benefits rose last week, while the total number of people continuing to receive benefits set a record high, the government said Thursday.

The Labor Department reported that first-time requests for unemployment insurance rose to 654,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 645,000, above analysts' expectations.

The number of people receiving benefits for more than a week increased by 193,000 to 5.3 million, the most on records dating back to 1967. That's the sixth time in the past seven weeks that the jobless claims rolls have set a record high.

Separately, the Commerce Department said retail sales fell by 0.1 percent in February, though that drop was much less than the 0.5 percent analysts expected. The government also revised January's performance to show a 1.8 percent rise, the biggest increase in three years and stronger than the 1 percent gain that was originally reported.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090312/ap_on_bi_ge/economy