U.S. jobless claims jump to 474,000

U.S. jobless claims jump to 474,000

2011-05-05 20:36:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the U.S. rose to 474,000 in the week ending April 30, which represents an increase of 43,000 compared to the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) said on Thursday.

The unexpected rise in unemployment claims marked the nation's highest in the last eight months, which could cause further concern in the labor market, but several factors could be attributed to the jobless claims rise, including temporary layoffs during spring break.

Other factors in the increase of unemployment claims also include auto industry shutdowns in Japan, following the catastrophic earthquake in March that triggered the country's ongoing nuclear crisis, as well as Oregon's recent emergency benefit program.

According to the latest DOL report, the 4-week moving average was 431,250, an increase of 22,250 from the previous week's revised average of 409,000.

The department also revealed that those unemployed with unemployment insurance for the week ending April 23 increased by 0.1 percent to reach a 3.0 percent rate, compared to a revised 2.9 percent from the previous week.

Furthermore, the DOL document showed an increase of 74,000 in the number of workers who claimed benefits under regular state unemployment programs, totaling 3,733,000 during the week ending April 23, while the 4-week moving average was 3,700,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,702,000.

The unadjusted, advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 412,873 in the week ending April 30, an increase of 25,006 from the previous week. There were 399,350 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 16 was 8,014,919, compared to last week's report of 8,187,232 for the week ending April 9.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 16 were in Alaska (6.0 percent), Puerto Rico (4.8), Oregon (4.4), Pennsylvania (4.2), California (4.1), Wisconsin (4.1), Rhode Island (3.9), Idaho (3.9), New Jersey (3.9), Nevada (3.8), and Montana (3.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 23 were in New Jersey (+5,326), Massachusetts (+4,027), Pennsylvania (+2,306), Ohio (+1,700), and Connecticut (+1,601), while the largest decreases were in Florida (-1,861), North Carolina (-1,662), Missouri (-1,618), New Mexico
(-1,417), and Arizona (-1,138).

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