Last week it was Hurricane Gustav, this week it's Hurricane Ike.

U.S. initial jobless claims jumped to their highest level in seven years, up 32,000 to 493,000 for the week ended September 20, as Hurricane Ike forced layoffs in Texas and Louisiana, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

The Labor Department said Hurricane Ike claims boosted the above total by about 50,000. Claims for the previous week were revised 16,000 higher to 461,000.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected this week's initial jobless claims to total 445,000.

Also, the 4-week moving average increased 16,000 to 462,500. Economists view the 4-week average as a better indicator of unemployment conditions, as it smooths-out anomalies for strikes, holidays, or other idiosyncratic events.

Economist Peter Dawson said "job loss numbers continue to show a U.S. economy that's in anemic condition. The U.S. economy is most certainly in a recession and credit market stress will only worsen commerce conditions."

"We're addressing the financial crisis right now, which is paramount and has to be the order of the day for public officials," Dawson said. "Lawmakers attention must be focused on passing the U.S. Treasury's bailout bill to keep markets liquid, which is an urgent matter. But after that's in place lawmakers should turn their attention to fiscal stimulus. Many people whose jobs were interrupted by Hurricane Ike will be rehired, but many jobs lost in the financial sector will not come back, due to consolidation, and this will push unemployment higher."