Recession's impact

Unemployment claims in the San Fernando Valley soared 77 percent in the third quarter to a five-year high as the national recession intensified, a research center said Friday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

An average of 27,451 local residents filed for unemployment benefits each month from July through September, up from 15,484 a year earlier and the most since 2003, said a report from the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.

"To have that go up by 77percent is dramatic," said center Director Daniel Blake.