The number of Americans filing applications for jobless benefits has reached a record high of 640,000, the US Labor Department says. The Labor Department said on Thursday that the number of new claims in the week ending April 18 rose from a revised 613,000 the previous week.

Job losses may continue all year even as the longest recession in the postwar era shows signs of reaching a trough. The figures indicate that employment cuts may come close to topping 650,000 in April. "There is nothing suggesting at this point that payroll declines are going to abate," said Tom Porcelli, a senior economist at Castlestone Management Ltd. in New York, Bloomberg reported. "We could bounce along the bottom here for a while." The jobless rate among people eligible for benefits rose 0.1 percentage point to 4.6 percent -- the highest since January 1983 -- in the week ending April 11. Twenty-five states and territories reported an increase in new claims for the week ending April 11, while 28 reported a decrease. The US economy has lost about 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.