Here’s a misleading headline: New jobless claims increase more than expected:

New claims for jobless benefits increased more than expected last week, reflecting continued weakness in the labor market in the new year that is not expected to ease anytime soon.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time requests for unemployment insurance jumped to a seasonally adjusted 524,000 in the week ending Jan. 10, from an upwardly revised figure of 470,000 the previous week. Analysts had expected 500,000 new claims.

The increase is partly due to a flood of requests from newly-laid off people who delayed filing claims over the holidays, a Labor Department analyst said.

The layoffs continued Thursday with MeadWestvaco, which makes paper and plastic products, saying it will cut some 2,000 employees or about 10 percent of its work force, as it accelerates cost savings this year. On Wednesday, Internet search company Google Inc. said it was closing three engineering offices and cutting 100 recruiters as the recession dampens hiring, and computer equipment maker Seagate Technology said it will eliminate 2,950 jobs, or 6 percent of its work force.

I’m not sure about the expectations. Everyone I listened to said that the prior figures were distorted. This is about what should have been expected. From the actual DOL report, I give you the unadjusted data:

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 952,151 in the week ending Jan. 10, an increase of 220,205 from the previous week. There were 547,506 initial claims in the comparable week in 2008.

Holy crap! 952,151? That’s a lot of people to absorb. And remember, while the seasonally adjusted figures are useful for trend analysis, the raw data is more important for those who actually care about the unemployed.