Total unemployment in the United States rose to the highest level in almost five years, and last week’s initial claims for jobless benefits exceeded forecasts, as employers cut staffs in the face of a slowing economy, Bloomberg reported.

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits increased by 15,000 to 444,000 in the week ended Aug. 30, the U.S. Labor Department said today. The number of people staying on the unemployment rolls rose to 3.435 million, the highest since November 2003.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast that the government will report on Friday that employers eliminated jobs in August for an eighth consecutive month.

“The labor market will continue to worsen,” Dana Saporta, an economist at Dresdner Kleinwort in New York, said before the report was released. “I look at claims and see much higher readings than just a few months ago, and I see that as consistent with the rising unemployment rate.”

Economists had forecast the weekly claims figure would fall to 420,000, according to the median of 40 projections in a Bloomberg News survey.

The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile measure than the weekly figure, fell to 438,000 from 441,250, the Labor Department report said.

So far this year, weekly claims have averaged 378,000, compared with 321,000 for all of 2007, when the economy generated an average of 91,000 new jobs each month. So far this year, monthly job losses have averaged 66,000, according to Labor Department data. Monthly payrolls tend to fall as claims rise.