The Labor Department says first-time requests for unemployment benefits jumped to 667,000 from the previous week's figure of 631,000. Analysts had expected a slight drop in claims.
That's the highest level of initial claims since October 1982, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.
The number of people receiving unemployment insurance for more than one week also increased more than expected to 5.1 million. That's the fifth straight week the jobless benefit rolls have set a new record-high on data going back to 1967.
The governmnet says orders for big-ticket goods plunged by a bigger-than-expected 5.2 percent in January as global economic troubles cut into demand from customers both in the United States and abroad.
The latest report on U.S. factory activity, released Thursday by the Commerce Department, showed that orders had fallen for a record six straight months. The previous record - a four-month-stretch of declines - came in 1992.
The weakness in January was broad based with orders for autos, metal products, machinery, computers and electrical equipment and household appliances all posting declines.
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