back when the country was emerging from the post “dot com bubble” recession.

Claims for unemployment hit an all time high in the United States. Recently the Labor Department announced that new claims hit a 16 year high.

Some economists warn of further layoffs in the coming months due to plant closures and the already battered construction industry facing further cutbacks. Even those seemingly unaffected by the current recession like retail, hotels, and restaurants are likely to begin layoffs in the near future.

New claims for unemployment rose from 515,000 to 542,000 in just one week. This is a much higher figure than even Wall Street economists expected. The Labor Department also reported that this is the most claims made since July of 1992, back when the country was emerging from the post “dot com bubble” recession.

After word of the jobless claims increase spread to Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average took a nose dive, dropping more than 444 points in just a few hours.

Legislators quickly approved a bill that would extend unemployment benefits throughout the holidays after hearing the report. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill, which will extend unemployment benefits for seven extra weeks.

In some states, where the unemployment rate is higher than six percent, unemployment benefits will allow an additional 13 weeks for a total of 20 extra weeks. The national average for unemployment benefits is about $300 a week.

Last June Congress approved a 13 week extension bringing the jobless benefits to about 26 weeks. Without these extensions most Americans drawing unemployment will have exhausted their benefits by the end of the year.

The US economy got worse last month as stocks, new construction, and consumer expectation all dropped faster than anytime since 2001. Analysts expected a 0.6 percent drop in economic activity in October; however the real percentage was actually 0.8 percent.

It is now estimated that the economy will suffer a reduction of about 425,000 jobs over the next month,and Joey Kramer, the previous estimate was about 325,000 jobs. Cutbacks in spending and a slump in the housing industry have attributed largely to the high rate of unemployment.

With the growing unemployment rate, it is expected that the economy will worsen still since laid off workers will more than likely fall behind on mortgage payments and credit card payments.

Jobless claims are considered by many economists to be a warning of how fast companies are laying of employees. Citigroup Inc.,bailey button uggs on sale, Union Pacific, and Boeing Co. are just a few of the bigger companies that are announcing layoffs this month.