Washington ? The number of laid-off workers continuing to draw unemployment benefits bolted to 4.5 million in late December, and even more Americans are expected to join the ranks of the jobless in 2009.

While first-time applications for jobless benefits dropped last week, economists mostly attributed that to the Christmas holiday and cautioned that a more accurate picture of new layoff filings won’t become clear until the holiday season is passed — around mid-January.

All in all, though, the picture that emerged Wednesday was largely grim and is not expected to improve any time soon.

“It wasn’t a very merry Christmas for most of the labor force and it doesn’t look like it will be a very happy New Year, either,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.