–Continuing Claims Adjusted -68K to 3.641 Mln, Vs 3.765 Mln Month Ago

By Denny Gulino and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits rose 25,000 to 429,000, back to the level of late
January, despite expectations for a decline, the Labor Department
reported Thursday.

Seasonally adjusted continuing claims dropped 68,000 to 3.641
million, the lowest since the end of September 2008, versus the
month-ago comparison of 3.765 million.

The previous week’s initial claims were revised down 12,000 to
404,000. In a Market News International survey expectations had centered
on a drop of 21,000 initial claims from the originally reported
416,000 for the April 16 week.

The Labor analyst said there was nothing unusual in the figures,
with the seasonal factor expecting the usual Good Friday/pre Easter
week decline of 4.9% or around 18,500 claims, instead getting a 0.9%
increase of 3,569 to an unadjusted total of 385,622. He said there are
just a small scattering of indications of auto plant retooling layoffs
which so far have not been a major factor.

One state’s results, for Oklahoma, were estimated in the latest
week.

The adjusted four-week moving average in the latest week was up
9,250 from the previous week’s revise average of 399,250.

Unadjusted continuing claims dropped 128,881 in the April 16
week to 3,765,074. A year earlier that total was 4,796,318.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.9%, down from the
revised 3.0% rate the previous week. The unadjusted rate was 3.0% in the
same April 16 week, down a tenth from the previous week.

The state data released for the April 16 week point to an
increase in the number of unadjusted claims of more than 1,000 in two
states and a decline in 18.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below
that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are
approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and
labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

The Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency
Unemployment Compensation benefits claims dropped by 78,833 in the April
9 week, bringing that category to 3,448,260. Extended benefits claims
rose by 2,433 to 716,314, not seasonally adjusted in the same week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 8,187,232 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the April 9 week, a decline of 112,578
from the previous week and well below the 10,509,709 persons in the
comparable week a year ago. These data are not seasonally adjusted, and
include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans
claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state additional
benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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