First-time jobless claims virtually still

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WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Labor Department said first-time jobless claims dropped by 1,000 in the week ended Saturday with 388,000 initial claims filed.

It was the second consecutive week gains were marginal. In the previous weekly report, the department said 2,000 fewer first-time claims were filed.

To put it into perspective, the gains are so small that this week's revision summarily wipes them out.

Last week's report said 386,000 first-time claims were filed. The figure is frequently revised and this week the Labor Department corrected the figure to 389,000, canceling out two weeks of marginal improvements.

The four-week rolling average, which gives a steadier figure, rose by 5,500 last week and by 6,250 this week, the department said. The four week rolling average this week stands at 381,750.

The biggest increases in initial jobless claims for the week ended April 14 were in New York ( up by 3,352), California (up by 3,060) and Georgia (up by 2,179).

The largest decreases were in Washington state (down by 5,700), Pennsylvania (down by 5,362) and Oregon (down by 3,649).

The U.S. unemployment rate is 8.2 percent, unchanged from February to March.