Initial Jobless Claims surged by 28,000 in the latest week, with 261,000 people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. This is the highest level in 20 months and this number has been trending higher, with Initial Jobless Claims topping 200,000 every week since the start of February. Meanwhile, the number of people still receiving benefits after their initial claim is filed remains elevated with 1.757 million Continuing Claims reported. This is well above the low of 1.289 million seen last September and this upward trend shows the difficulties many people are having as they search for new employment.