Weekly unemployment claims rose steeply last week continuing an upward trend over the last couple of months. For the week of November 20, 2010, there were 1,401 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, an increase of 508 from the week before. Altogether 9,563 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 795 from a week ago and 1,847 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,385 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 120 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 696 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 16 from the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at:http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc