The number of new US jobless claims and the total number of people receiving benefits both dropped unexpectedly last week, though they remain at elevated levels unlikely to fall substantially in the coming months. Few economists expect a turnaround in the battered labor market anytime soon with companies laying off thousands of workers weekly. Still, the tally of initial requests for unemployment benefits fell to 639,000 from the previous week's figure of 670,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts expected a smaller drop to 650,000. The 670,000 total was a new high for the current recession and the most since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a severe downturn, though the labor force has grown by half since then. The number of people claiming benefits for more than a week fell slightly to 5.1 million from 5.12 million, after rising to record-highs for five straight weeks. Analysts expected 5.15 million continuing claims. But an additional 1.4 million people were receiving benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program approved by Congress last year. That tally was as of Feb. 14, the latest data available, and brings the total jobless benefit rolls to about 6.5 million. That's up sharply from a year ago, when 2.8 million people were receiving benefits. The four-week average of new claims, which smooths out fluctuations, increased 2,000 to 641,750, the highest since October 1982.
