Attacks Continue to Take Toll on Jobs

The lines grew longer at unemployment offices last week, a government report showed Thursday, with more workers ending up jobless and remaining that way in an economy hit hard by the terrorist attacks.

The Labor Department said the number of initial jobless benefit claims increased by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 490,000 for the week ended Oct. 13, well above Wall Street’s expectations. California had the biggest increase in claims--5,157--reflecting layoffs in a variety of industries.

“The level is just slowly creeping upward to a pretty severe recession level,” said Kurt Karl, chief economist at Swiss Re in New York.

The labor picture is likely to only get worse over the next several months as manufacturers and other companies tighten their belts amid falling profits.

While layoff announcements since the Sept. 11 attacks have swelled above 467,000, corporate hiring overall has slowed, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

The number of Americans continuing to claim state unemployment benefits for the week ended Oct. 6--the most recent week for which data were available--hit its highest level in more than 18 years.

“More and more people are getting laid off, and they are not getting new jobs quickly at all,” said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pa.