The number of people who filed for unemployment insurance benefits for the first time dropped for the week ending April 25, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

Last week in the U.S., 631,000 initial jobless claims were filed, down 14,000 from a revised-up 645,000 from the week before. The four-week moving average of initial claims, down 10,750 from the previous week, was 637,250.

The advance number for seasonally-adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 18 was 6,271,000, an increase of 133,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 6,138,000. The 4-week moving average was 6,076,000, an increase of 131,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 5,944,500.

The states reporting the largest increases in new unemployment claims were California - 8535, New York - 6959, Connecticut - 3086, Georgia - 3056, and North Carolina - 2983. The states reporting the largest decreases in new claims were Pennsylvania - 7,799, Florida -7,208, Illinois - 3,803, Ohio - 3,310, and Washington - 2,432.

The states with the highest insured unemployment rates for the week ending April 11, ranging from 5.7% to 8%, were New Jersey, Illinios, Alaska, Rhode Island, Vermont, Nevada, Idaho, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Michigan.

States reported an overall increase of 216,533 claiming Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or EUC benefits for the week of April 11. EUC benefits are available for those who have been involuntarily unemployed beyond the typical six months covered by state unemployment insurance.

The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7% during the week ending April 18, an increase of 0.1% from the prior week. The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming unemployment insurance benefits in state programs totaled 6,277,186, a decrease of 130,405 from the preceding week. A year earlier, the rate was 2.2% and the volume was 2,987,428.


Source:
U.S. Department of Labor