The U.S. Labor Department’s report on initial unemployment jobless benefits set a stage for what many economists said indicates Friday’s all-important jobs data will be especially grim.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims declined in the week ending Oct. 25 by 4,000 people to 481,000 claims. The loss was slightly better than expected -- economists interviewed by Thomson Reuters were expecting a loss of 3,000 people.

However continuing claims -- which are people on unemployment benefits for more than four weeks and a better indicator of the monthly jobs report number -- rose from 3.721 million to 3.843 million.

The continuing claims number was a new economic cycle high.

"The week-to-week increase in continuing claims was the steepest in eight weeks, but there too, the steady upward trend is more significant," said FOX Business Chief Economist Mark Lieberman.

Friday’s jobs report is expected to be especially grim, according to Wall Street economists. The consensus estimate for the October report is indicating that the nation lost 200,000 jobs last month, bringing the nation’s unemployment rate up to 6.3%.