Washington ? New claims for unemployment benefits shot up last week to their highest point in nearly a year as businesses made work forces leaner amid a muddled wartime economic climate.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 445,000 for the week ending March 29. That represented the highest level of new claims since the week ending April 13, 2002.

Thursday’s report highlighted the difficulties both companies and workers are facing, not only because of war but also because of a muddled economic climate.

“It is the pall of the Iraqi war, higher energy prices and lower stock prices just weighing on the willingness of companies to maintain jobs,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. “The uncertainty is so high they just can’t think about expanding their businesses at this point.”

The pace of layoffs last week was worse than economists were predicting. They were forecasting claims to rise to around 410,000.

Economists say claims above the 400,000 mark generally depict an extremely weak job market.

The more stable four-week moving average of new claims also rose last week to 426,250. The moving average has been above the 400,000 level for five straight weeks.

Uncertainties surrounding the war and lackluster profits are among the forces that are making businesses step up layoffs. Those same forces also are making companies reluctant to aggressively hire and to invest heavily in capital projects, major forces restraining the economy.

After falling into a recession in 2001, the economy has been struggling since then to get back on firm footing.

With economists forecasting sub-par economic growth for both the first and second quarters of this year, the nation’s labor market is likely to deteriorate further, they say.