Pat Dollard

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid edged higher last week, stoking fears of a double-dip recession.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 1,000 to 427,000, the Labor Department said.

The rise kept first-time claims perched above the 400,000 mark for the ninth week in a row. Analysts normally associate a level below that with steady job growth.

“It’s the same dismal trend continuing. It’s not getting worse, but it’s not getting better either,” said Keith Hembre, chief economist at Nuveen Asset Management in Minneapolis.

Fueling concerns about job creation, the U.S. government said on Friday the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent in May while nonfarm employers added a paltry 54,000 workers to their payrolls, half of those hired by McDonald’s in a job fair.

Hembre said the unemployment rate could rise to 9.2 percent in the June report. That would add to President Barack Obama’s political woes heading into the 2012 race for the White House.