WASHINGTON — There were 445,000 first-time filings for unemployment insurance last week, compared with the revised figure of 451,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported today.

While the week-to-week numbers fell, the year-to-year data told a different story. During the same week last year, there were 322,000 first-time filings.

The four-week average of first-time claims was 440,000, an increase of 250 compared with last week's numbers.

The nation's economic woes have been a major issue in the presidential campaign and several of the states that saw the highest increases in new claims are considered battlegrounds: Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Pennsylvania.

Today's data report follows bleak news from the government's latest unemployment figures.

Last Friday, the department reported that unemployment rose to 6.1% in August, the highest in four years, as businesses cut 84,000 jobs. Those numbers represented the 8th consecutive month of job losses.