New statistics show more people are asking for unemployment insurance which means employers are continuing layoffs. Applications for unemployment benefits reached 500,000 last week which was the highest since November 2009. The number marked a 12,000 increase according to the Department of Labor. Statistics show that it was the fourth increase in five weeks, which some say is a sign of economic instability.

According to a report by the Associated Press, home building companies and construction firms seem to be laying off at higher rates since the homebuyers’ tax credit expired. Other large amounts of layoffs are coming from the public sector as states attempt to balance budgets. “This is obviously a disappointing number that shows ongoing weakness in the job market,” Robert Dye, senior economist at the PNC Financial Services Group, told the Associated Press.

The jobless rate is sitting at 9.5 percent, the same level it’s been at for two months. According to the Associated Press, private employers had been adding about 100,000 jobs each month. Those requesting unemployment insurance reached a peak in March of 2009 as 651,000 people requested assistance. Currently 4.5 million people are receiving benefits, according to the Department of Labor.

The US House passed $112 billion worth of legislation that will extend unemployment, restore tax breaks and raise taxes on mangers of buyout funds and other investment partnerships. Now the legislation will move to the Senate next week. “It’s a good bill for jobs, it’s a good bill for closing tax loopholes, it’s a good bill for dissuading people from taking jobs overseas,” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said on the House floor before the vote, according to Business Week.

Without this legislation some benefits for the unemployed will end on May 31, but with this new plan the benefits will be extended through the end of November. Unemployment is still sitting around 10 percent with roughly half of those without jobs being out of work for 27 weeks or more. Earlier this year unemployment payments expired for some Americans, but when lawmakers agreed on an extension the payments were made retroactive. Passing this legislation in the House wasn’t without turmoil, according to the Associated Press.

Fiscally conservative democrats weren’t happy about adding to the country’s $13 trillion in debt. “With this vote, we can help families across the country and continue the path we set out on last year to help dig the country out of a terrible recession,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y, according to the Associated Press. The bill includes $58 billion in tax increases to pay for some of the benefits. “This is not a jobs bill,” said Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif, according to the Associated Press.  “It is just another extension of the ‘tax too much, spend too much, borrow too much’ philosophy that we have come to expect” from Democrats.

New information released by The Labor Department says that new claims for unemployment benefits have dropped for the fourth week in a row. It’s a sign, some experts say, that the job market is showing improvement. The unemployment claims dropped by 4,000 last week, according to Yahoo! Finance. The four-week average for unemployment benefit claims fell by 9,000 to 450,500. Last year’s peak was 651,000. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits increased by 12,000 to 4.6 million. Another 5.4 million are receiving extended benefits, which is down 200,000 compared to the week prior.

Employers are beginning to hire again, but slowly. “We expect claims to continue to move lower over the coming weeks and will feel more comfortable about the prospects for sustainable job creation when claims drop below the 400,000 mark,” economists at RDQ Economics said in a note to clients, according to Yahoo! Finance. US employers added about 290,000 jobs in April which is the most in a single month in four years. But experts say a lot of ground needs to be covered to make up for the more than 8 million estimated jobs lost during the recession.

Cisco Systems, Inc is one of the companies that’s hiring. CEO John Chambers said this week that they hired 1,000 new people in the first quarter, a pace he expects to pick up, according to Yahoo! Finance. Other companies are still downsizing. Dean Foods Co, the company behind Horizon Organic milk, announced it plans to eliminate at least 350 jobs. The company already let 150 people go this year.