The number of Americans thrown out of work by Hurricane Katrina shot up by 103,000 last week, bringing the total seeking jobless benefits because of the storm to 214,000, the government reported Thursday.
The 214,000 total number of applications for unemployment benefits related to the hurricane included 91,000 claims for two weeks ago, a figure that had originally been put at 68,000, and 20,000 claims for the week ending Sept. 3. The 103,000 new hurricane-related jobless claims were out of a total of 432,000 claims last week, which was the highest level for total jobless claims since July 5, 2003.
