First-time jobless claims dropped in week

WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- First-time benefit claims for unemployment insurance fell by 13,000 in the week ending April 16, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

In the week, 403,000 initial claims were filed, as the four-week rolling average of initial claims filed rose by 2,250 to 399,000.

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 9 were reported by California with 25,646 additional claims, North Carolina, which added 6,041, and Kentucky, which added 5,202.

For the week ending April 9, the biggest decreases were reported by Minnesota with a decline of 403, Iowa with a decline of 389 and Maine, where initial claims fell by 55.