WASHINGTON - December 24, 2008 - In the week ending December
20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was
586,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week's revised figure of
556,000. The 4-week moving average was 558,000, an increase of 13,750 from the
previous week's revised average of 544,250.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 13 was 4,370,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,387,000.
By these measures, the current recession is already worse than the '01 recession, and close to the '90/'91 recession.