April 24 (UPI) – The Ministry of Labor said Thursday that the first unemployment complaints, adjusted seasonally, were 222,000 for the week ending on April 19.
It is 6,000 more than the revised level of the previous week.
During the comparable week, a year ago, the first unemployment complaints were 202,619, according to the Labor Department.
The figures were close to the 220,000 expected by the economists interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
Continuous unemployment complaints for the week ending on April 12 fell from 37,000 to 1.84 million.
The insured unemployment rate – the number of unemployed people obtaining benefits in percentage of covered employment – was 1.2%.
“During the week ending on April 19, the prior figure of the initial complaints seasonally adjusted was 222,000, an increase of 6,000 compared to the revised level of the previous week,” the Ministry of Labor said in a press release. “The level of the previous week was revised from 1,000 from 215,000 to 216,000. The 4 -week mobile average was 220,250, a drop of 750 compared to the revised average of the previous week.”
The biggest increases in the first unemployment complaints for the week ending on April 12 were in Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Connecticut.
The largest decreases in initial complaints were in California, Tennessee, Oregon, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Without seasonal adjustment, there were 209,782 initial unemployment complaints for the week ending on April 19.
