There were about 30,000 first time unemployment claims around the nation last week.
That's 4 times greater than U.S. Labor Department officials expected.
In New Hampshire, the official unemployment rate is the same as last year, about 4.2 percent.
But neither the state nor the national unemployment rate includes people who've stopped looking for work, because they've been jobless for so long.
New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman has more.
