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.