WASHINGTON — Driven by a sour economy and skittish consumers, U.S. business bankruptcies saw their sharpest quarterly rise in two years, jumping 17 percent in the second quarter of 2008, according to an analysis by McClatchy.

Commercial filings for the first half of 2008 are up 45 percent from last year, as the national climate for commerce continues to deteriorate amid rising energy and food costs, mounting job losses, tighter credit and a reticence among consumers to part with discretionary income. 

From April through June, 15,471 U.S. businesses called it quits, according to data from Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, an Oklahoma City bankruptcy management and data company.

The number of U.S. businesses that sought bankruptcy-court protection in 2007 climbed to the highest level in two years as an era of easy credit came to a jarring end, new federal court data show.

In all, 28,322 businesses slumped into bankruptcy, an increase of more than 40% from 2006, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The ranks of businesses initiating liquidation proceedings swelled by more than 50%, totaling 18,751. And 5,736 businesses sought Chapter 11 protection to reorganize, an increase of nearly 24%.

Business bankruptcy filings in the United States increased 49 percent in April from a year earlier, the biggest increase so far in 2008, as the slowing economy prompted more companies to shut down or seek protection from creditors.

Business petitions rose to 5, 173 during the month, according to statistics compiled from court records by Jupiter eSources LLC in Oklahoma City.

Amid a global credit crunch that has hurt businesses and individuals alike, new data show that U.S. businesses are seeking bankruptcy protection at a faster rate than consumers this year.

From January through March, 13,155 businesses filed for bankruptcy, according to Automated Access To Court Electronic Records, a database that tracks the numbers. That’s an increase of nearly 45% from the 9,103 business bankruptcy filings in the first three months of 2007.

Thanks to lingering credit-market woes and a downturn in the U.S. economy, more than 18,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy during the first four months of 2008, a number that’s equal to nearly half of all the businesses that sought court protection in all of 2007, according to data released Friday.

Through April, 18,328 companies sought protection under Chapters 7 or 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, according to data released by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, or AACER. That’s 43% of the 42,843 businesses that filed for bankruptcy during all of last year.