New jobless claims rise more than expected

WASHINGTON - The government says the number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose last week while the total jobless benefit rolls reached a new record.

The Labor Department says first-time requests for unemployment insurance increased to 654,000 from the previous week's figure of 639,000, above analysts' expectations.

The number of people receiving benefits for more than a week increased by 193,000 to 5.3 million, the most on records dating back to 1967. That's the sixth time in the past seven weeks that the jobless claims rolls have set a new record.