All Associated Press news

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government data is expected to show that new claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week, but to levels that are still quite high by historical standards.

The Labor Department’s tally of initial jobless benefit claims for the week ending Nov. 15 is expected to decline by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 505,000, according to a survey of Wall Street economists by Thomson Reuters.

The data is scheduled to be released Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EST.

If accurate, the estimated figure would be only the third time since 1992 that jobless claims have topped 500,000.

Last week’s figure of 516,000 nearly matched the 517,000 reported in September 2001, just after the terrorist attacks.

Claims above 400,000 are generally considered a sign of recession, and claims have been above that level for 17 weeks. A year ago, claims stood at about 320,000.

The number of people continuing to claim unemployment insurance is expected to increase to 3.92 million, from 3.9 million. That figure has increased sharply in the last two weeks and is at its highest level in 25 years, though the labor market has grown by about half since 1983.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released projections that the national unemployment rate will rise to between 6.3 percent and 6.5 percent this year. The rate in October was 6.5 percent, and last year the rate averaged 4.6 percent.

Next year, the Fed expects the jobless rate to climb to between 7.1 percent and 7.6 percent, according to documents from the Fed’s Oct. 29 closed-door deliberations on interest rate policy.

Initial claims have been driven higher in the past several months by a slowing economy hit by the financial crisis, and cutbacks in consumer and business spending.

Economists consider jobless claims a timely, if volatile, indication of how rapidly companies are laying off workers. Employees who quit or are fired for cause are not eligible for benefits.

Several companies announced mass layoffs in the past week, including Citigroup Inc., Union Pacific Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.