Jobless rolls at 26-year peak, factory orders drop

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By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers on jobless benefits rolls hit a 26-year high last month, data showed on Thursday, and it may head higher as a deepening economic slump forces a broad spectrum of firms to cut jobs.

Contributing to the labor-market gloom, a host of U.S. companies announced large-scale layoffs, including top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc, which is eliminating 12,000 jobs, and chemical maker DuPont, which is cutting 2,500.

Leading U.S. retailers also reported lower November sales on Thursday, although better-than-expected results at Wal-Mart Stores Inc helped temper the blow.

Economists said the latest batch of dour news for the world's largest economy, which fell into recession a year ago, pointed to a downturn that could be the sharpest and longest since the downswings in the early 1980s.

"The consensus is looking for a pretty deep recession. The bar's been lowered ... we're in a recession and it's going to be a while," said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Corp in Boston.

"There are going to be a lot more (layoffs) and we can barely see the tip of the iceberg. The fact we're seeing these layoffs now tells you that it must pretty darn tight out there for orders and sales."

BENEFIT ROLLS HIT 1982 HIGH

The U.S. Labor Department said the number of unemployed workers drawing benefits after claiming an initial week of aid jumped to 4.087 million in the week ended November 22, the highest since December 1982, from 3.998 million the prior week.

While first-time claims for benefits unexpectedly fell last week to 509,000 from 530,000, a four-week moving average of new claims, a better gauge of underlying labor trends, rose to 524,500, also a 26-year high.

The insured unemployment rate, a measure of the workforce receiving unemployment benefits, edged up to 3.1 percent in the week ended November 29 from 3 percent the prior week. This was the highest reading since September 1992.

The data did not bode well for the U.S. government's monthly report on employment due on Friday, with analysts forecasting employers could have reduced payrolls by anything between 250,000 and 550,000 last month.

The consensus of economists polled by Reuters is for a drop of 340,000 in non-farm employment and a jump in the jobless rate to 6.8 percent from 6.5 percent in October.

Less-comprehensive data on Wednesday showed U.S. private employers cut 250,000 jobs in November, the biggest drop in seven years, after eliminating 179,000 positions in October.

"We are going to see more layoffs as the economy continues to weaken. Clearly we are expecting a very weak payroll report," said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital in New York.

In another reminder of the dire economic situation, new orders received by U.S. factories plunged 5.1 percent in October, the third straight monthly decline and the biggest in eight years, a Commerce Department report showed.

"Basically we went from an ability to export with a vengeance to a rapid decline. Consumer and business investments are very weak. We are in recession and this confirms that," said Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist at Swiss Re in New York.

(Additional reporting by Doug Palmer in Washington, Herbert Lash in New York and Brad Dorman in Chicago)

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