Job seekers wait to meet with employers at a career fair in New York City, October 24, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)
The Labor Department said on Thursday first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 8,000 to 237,000 for the week ending June 10, 2017. The 4-week moving average was 243,000, a gain of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average.
The report beat expectations by 6,000 claims and continuing claims, which lag by a week, ticked up by 6,000 to 1.935 million with this 4-week average little changed at 1.927 million. The unemployment rate for insured workers held steady at a very positive 1.4%.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending May 27 and there were no special factors influencing the data.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 27 were in Alaska (2.9), Puerto Rico (2.8), New Jersey (2.2), Connecticut (2.0), California (1.9), Massachusetts (1.8), Pennsylvania (1.8), Illinois (1.7), Nevada (1.6), and Rhode Island (1.6).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending June 3 were in Pennsylvania (+980), Arkansas (+756), Florida (+554), Arizona (+375), and Iowa (+353), while the largest decreases were in California (-8,313), Kansas (-2,350), Missouri (-2,144), Tennessee (-2,101), and New York (-1,176).
