The number of people in the United States getting unemployment benefits hit an all-time high of nearly five million last week, the U.S. government reported Thursday.

The Labour Department said new applications for benefits held steady last week at 627,000, unchanged from the previous week. Economists had been expecting 620,000 claims.

The number of people getting regular unemployment benefits edged up to 4.99 million — the fourth consecutive week that figure has hit a record level.

Another 1.5 million people are getting extended unemployment benefits under a program approved by the U.S. Congress last year

Underscoring the weak U.S. jobs situation, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday said the jobless rate in the U.S. is now expected to reach between 8.5 and 8.8 per cent this year. That is up from the forecast of between 7.1 and 7.6 per cent that the central bank offered in November 2008.

The U.S. unemployment rate sits at 7.6 per cent, after employers cut their payrolls by roughly 598,000 workers in January.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the "strong and aggressive action" will be necessary to get the U.S. out of recession.