The news in this morning’s update on new weekly jobless claims is bad. In fact, it’s the worst report for this series since the recession ended in mid-2009. The Labor Department argues, according to Bloomberg, that the unusually big jump in claims was due to “auto-plant shutdowns and other unusual events that seasonal variations failed to take into account.” In any case, new filings for unemployment benefits surged last week by a seasonally adjusted 43,000–the biggest weekly jump in more than two years. As a result, claims hit 474,000 for the week through April 30, the highest since last August.