Unemployment insurance claims up 55 percent in Ga.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Department of Labor says first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in November rose to 74,480, a 54.7 percent increase over November 2007. Nationwide, they are at their highest level in 26 years.

During the first 11 months of this year, 613,863 initial claims for unemployment insurance have been filed, an increase of 44.1 percent over the 425,942 initial claims filed during the same period last year.

The department said the areas with the highest percentage of increase in claims are Dalton, Rome and Warner Robins. The areas with the smallest increase in claims are Augusta, Albany and Valdosta. Metro Gainesville had the fourth-highest percentage increase, 74 percent.

NATIONWIDE

Nationwide, the federal government says new claims for unemployment benefits reached their highest level in 26 years last week, as companies cut workers at a rapid pace.

The U.S. Labor Department says initial applications for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 573,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week. That was far more than the 525,000 claims Wall Street economists expected.

A Labor Department analyst says the jump is partly due to a rebound in claims from the Thanksgiving holiday week, when government offices were open for fewer days.