First time jobless claims fall slightly

WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- First-time claims for U.S. unemployment insurance fell by 4,000 during the week ending May 30, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.

Although the decrease was small, it was the third consecutive week of declines with initial jobless claims dropping by 25,000 in the past two weeks.

In the current week, the 621,000 initial benefits claims contributed to a four-week rolling average of 631,250, which was an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's rolling average of 627,250.

The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.9 percent.

The biggest increases in claims for the week ending May 23 were reported by Illinois with 3,881 additional claims; Iowa, which added 2,312, and South Carolina, which added 1,792, the report said.

State-by-state statistics lag a week behind the national report.

For the week ending May 23, the biggest decreases were reported by North Carolina with a decline of 3,952 claims; Michigan, declining by 2,812, and Ohio with 2,158 fewer claims than the week of May 16.