WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- First-time unemployment claims last week rose by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The four-week revised average for the week ending June 18 was 426,250, unchanged from the previous week's revised average, the department said.
In May, the national unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.1 percent, as the economy added 54,000 jobs in the month, a sharp slowdown from the first four months of the year.
The monthly report said 13.9 million persons were counted in the month as unemployed.
For the week ending June 11, the largest increases in initial claims were in Pennsylvania and California, where claims rose by 6,019 and 3,884, respectively.
The largest declines in the week ending June 11 were in Louisiana, where first-time claims dropped by 899 and Tennessee, where first-time claims dropped by 851.
