Jobless-Benefit Filings Hit 10-Year High : Economy: Two-week layoffs at GM skew the figures, however, economists say.

New applications for unemployment benefits rose by the largest amount in more than 10 years early this month, the government reported Thursday, but most of the surge was attributed to a two-week shutdown of General Motors.

The Labor Department said there were 474,000 new applications during the week ending Aug. 8, a jump of 71,000 from the week before and the largest increase since the week ended Jan. 23, 1982, during the previous recession.

“I think the large jump in a week was just a one-week occurrence with the GM layoffs,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist for First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles. Michigan reported 74,221 new claims, nearly all stemming from layoffs in the automobile industry.

“I would expect the level of initial claims to be returning to around the 400,000 level in the next few weeks,” Reaser said. However, she added, “the economy needs to see a level of 300,000 before we can be assured that a stronger trend has indeed taken hold.”

The weekly total of first-time applications by out-of-work Americans was the highest since early December.

Other states with large increases were California, 5,340; Mississippi, 2,777; Texas, 1,973, and North Carolina, 1,626.

California’s increase was caused by layoffs in the aerospace and service industries; Mississippi’s by pink slips in the furniture, electrical equipment and transportation equipment industries, and North Carolina’s by layoffs in the furniture industry. There was no explanation offered for the increase in Texas.

Reaser said she foresees more layoffs in aerospace, financial services and other industries in California in the next few months. “But we also are likely to see scattered job gains as well.

“On balance, California continues to trail the nation,” she said. “There is some evidence that the state’s economy is beginning to stabilize as job layoffs in some industries are offset by scattered gains in others. But no major upturn in employment is likely for a number of months.”

The GM shutdown was first reflected in the week ended July 25, when claims surged as auto workers outside Michigan sought benefits. Applications in Michigan, which had switched to a mail-in filing system, were not reported until Thursday.

The biggest declines in new applications were in New York, 8,572; Maryland, 3,209; Alabama, 2,869; South Carolina, 2,550, and Indiana, 2,171.