The number of US workers filing initial claims for unemployment benefits surged again last week to its highest level in 16 years, indicating the impact of what is expected to be a severe recession. Claims continuing for more than one week broke through the the four-million level, rising to 25-year highs in a signal of the serious employment scenario.

Initial claims for jobless benefits jumped 27,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the highest since July 1992. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected claims to drop 11,000.

There was nothing unusual affecting the data, a Labor Department analyst said, explaining"the claims just came in higher than seasonal factors predicted."

The four-week average of new claims, which seeks to smooth volatility in the data, rose 15,750 to 506,500, the highest since January 1983 and well above recessionary levels typically associated with further increases in the unemployment rate. The four-week average was below 400,000 as recently as July.

Nonfarm payrolls have fallen 10-straight months, pushing the unemployment rate to a 14-year high of 6.5% in October. Thursday's weekly claims data -- which include the survey week for the November employment report -- point to another big payroll drop this month and further increase in the unemployment rate.

In quarterly forecasts released Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said the central tendency of officials' unemployment rate forecasts for the end of 2009 was 7.1% to 7.6%, though individual forecasts went as high as 8%.

Meanwhile according to Thursday's report the tally of continuing claims, those drawn by workers collecting benefits for more than one week in the week ended Nov. 8, rose 109,000 to 4,012,000. That's the highest level since December 1982.

The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance rose 0.1 percentage point to 3%, the highest since June 2003.

President George W. Bush supports an extension of unemployment compensation benefits.

``Because of the tight job market, the president believes it would be appropriate to further extend unemployment benefits, and he would sign the legislation now pending in Congress,'' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

The Senate is scheduled to vote today on a House-passed measure to extend unemployment benefits by at least seven weeks. People in states with a jobless rate higher than 6 percent would get an additional 13 weeks. The House passed the measure 368-28 on Oct. 3rd.

From December 2007 to March 2008, the number of job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments was 7.1 million, and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments was 7.4 million, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.