Initial jobless claims jump by 25,000

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WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- First-time benefit claims for unemployment insurance rose by 25,000 in the week ending April 23, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

In the week, 429,000 initial claims were filed, as the four-week rolling average of initial claims filed rose by 9,250 to 408,500.

The unemployment rate in March fell from to 8.9 percent to 8.8 percent.

The Labor Department said the biggest increases in first-time jobless benefits claims for the week ending April 16 were reported by Florida with 2,753 additional claims, Puerto Rico, which added 1,121, and New Mexico, which added 680.

For the week ending April 16, the biggest decreases were reported by California with a decline of 18,017, North Carolina with a decline of 5,871 and Pennsylvania, where initial claims fell by 4,925.