Jobless claims drop
|
|
March 29, 2001: 9:34 a.m. ET
Claims down 20,000 in latest week, but four-week average only slightly lower
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The number of new jobless claims in the United States dipped significantly last week, the government said Thursday, but still was nearly 100,000 more than a year ago.
The Labor Department said new claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 20,000 to 362,000 for the week ended March 24 from a revised 382,000 the prior week. Labor measured new claims at 267,000 in the March 25, 2000 week.
Wall Street analysts had estimated new claims would total 375,000, according to Briefing.com.
The four-week moving average was 374,750, a drop of 3,000 from the prior week. Economists watch the four-week moving average more closely because it gives a better reading on the health of the labor market by smoothing out fluctuations in the weekly data.
Four states reported an increase in claims of 1,000 or more in the week ended March 17, the latest period for which the data are available, led by New York with 3,972 additional claims. No reason was given for the increase.
In the same week, 10 states reported a decrease in claims of 1,000 or more, led by California with 6,840 fewer claims centered in the construction industry and agriculture.
-- from staff and wire reports.
|
|
|
|
|
|