Initial unemployment claims dropped to their lowest level in more than five years, the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
Claims were down 18,000 last week from the previous week’s revised estimate of 342,000, to 324,000.
The DOL said claims for the week ending April 27 changed the four-week moving average from 358,250 the previous week to 342,250.
Despite the good news, new claims in Massachusetts were among the highest in the country, with 4,101 reported. According to the labor department, that number was mostly due to layoffs in the education industry.
Michigan was the only state outside New England with more than 1,000 new claims (6,172). Connecticut and Rhode Island also saw new claims of more than 1,000, reporting 2,452 and 1,427, respectively.
The largest decreases were in California (16,681), New York (6,443), Pennsylvania (3,646) and Texas (3,070).
