U.S. jobless claims drop 44,000 but still over 400,000

U.S. jobless claims drop 44,000 but still over 400,000

2011-05-12 21:05:23 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the U.S. dropped to 434,000 in the week ending May 7, which represents a decrease of 44,000 compared to the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) said on Thursday.

The decrease in unemployment benefits comes after it had increased by 43,000 the previous week, which marked the nation's highest in the last eight months. However, several factors could be attributed to the jobless claims rise, including temporary layoffs during spring break.

Experts believed other factors in the increase of unemployment claims had also included 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 436,750, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 432,250.

The department also revealed that those unemployed with unemployment insurance for the week ending April 30 remained unchanged compared to the previous week at a 3.0 percent rate.

The DOL document showed an increase of 5,000 in the number of workers who claimed benefits under regular state unemployment programs, totaling 3,756,000 during the week ending April 30, while the 4-week moving average was 3,718,500, an increase of 13,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,705,250.

The unadjusted, advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 394,583 in the week ending May 7, a decrease of 21,391 from the previous week. There were 414,327 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 23 was 7,983,672, a decrease of 31,247 from the previous week.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending April 23 were in Alaska (5.7 percent), Oregon (4.3), Pennsylvania (4.2), Connecticut (4.1), Rhode Island (4.1), Wisconsin (4.1), California (4.0), New Jersey (4.0), Idaho (3.8), and Nevada (3.8).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 30 were in New York (+24,431), Michigan (+3,948), Wisconsin (+3,746), North Carolina (+2,749), and Ohio (+2,319), while the largest decreases were in New Jersey (-4,004), California (-3,145), Massachusetts (-2,966), Puerto Rico (-2,713), and Florida (-2,156).

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