The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims dropped 30,000 last week to 339,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s the lowest number of new claims since February 2008.
It brought the four-week seasonally- adjusted average to 364,000, down 11,500 from the previous week’s average of 375,000. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending Sept. 29, unchanged from the previous week.
The total number of people claiming unemployment for the week of Sept. 22 was 5,044,649, down 43,970 from the previous week and 35 percent from the comparable week in 2011.
The number people receiving unemployment insurance is highest in Puerto Rico, Alaska, Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Nevada and Oregon.
The largest increases in initial claims were in New York, California and North Carolina while the largest decreases were in Mississippi, Michigan, Florida and Ohio.
Image courtesy: FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
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