WASHINGTON — Wall Street expects the government to report new claims for unemployment benefits increased last week as companies ramped-up layoffs amid the recession.

The jobless claims report comes a day after the federal government said the monthly budget deficit reached a record in November, in part because of increased spending on programs such as unemployment insurance and food stamps.

The number of new claims for jobless benefits is projected to increase to a seasonally adjusted 525,000, up from 509,000 the previous week, according to Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Claims late last month reached 543,000, their highest level in 16 years. Economists said the drop to 509,000 was partly due to volatility from the Thanksgiving holiday week.

CHICAGO — With cheers and chants that echoed President-elect Barack Obama's campaign of change, jubilant workers agreed to a $1.75 million settlement that ends their six-day occupation of a shuttered Chicago factory that became a symbol of the plight of labor nationwide.Republic Windows & Doors, union leaders and Bank of America reached the deal Wednesday evening. Each former Republic employee will get eight weeks' salary, all accrued vacation pay and two months' paid health care, said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who helped broker the deal. He said it works out to about $7,000 apiece.About 200 of 240 laid-off workers began their sit-in last week after Republic gave them just three days' notice the plant was closing. The workers had argued Republic violated federal law because employees were not given 60 days' notice. They vowed to stay until they received assurances they would get severance and accrued vacation pay.

ATLANTA — U.S. airlines' on-time performance and baggage handling improved in October, and the carriers overall posted a lower rate of domestic cancelations compared to the same month a year ago, the Transportation Department said Wednesday.Regional carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the worst on-time performance in October, while regional carrier Pinnacle Airlines had the best.The DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 86 percent in October, higher than the 78.2 percent recorded a year earlier and the 84.9 percent recorded in September.The agency said the carriers in October canceled 0.6 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, a lower rate than both the 1.2 percent cancellation rate of October 2007 and the 1.8 percent rate posted in September of this year.