Jobless Claims, Energy Prices Both Soar

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 5 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A total of 68,000 Americans lost their jobs due to Hurricane Katrina and filed for unemployment benefits last week, pushing these applications up by the largest amount in nearly a decade.

The Labor Department reported that claims for benefits rose by 71,000 last week, with 68,000 of that total attributed to layoffs due to Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and other areas along the Gulf Coast. That figure exceeded the claims filed in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, and analysts predicted that it would be revised even higher once states catch up with processing a flood of claims.