By Denny Gulino and Kevin Kastner

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits dropped 24,000 to 456,000 in the April 17 employment survey
week after seasonal adjustment and some of the drop was “not unrelated”
to the surges in the previous two weeks, according to data released by
the U.S. Labor Department Thursday morning.

The level of claims in the April 17 week was just barely above the
454,000 level in the March 13 employment survey week after a two-week
period in which increases were exceptionally large, blamed on
administrative catch-up after Easter Week and the California Chavez
holiday.

“Every spike has two sides,” the Labor Department analyst said
Thursday, and the latest week’s decline is “not unrelated.” As opposed
to persistent trends that would signal some change in the underlying
economic reality, the numbers “adjust back” after “these little
volatility things,” he said.

The latest week’s level was under the 460,000 expected in a Market
News International survey of economists.

The Labor analyst said that seasonal adjustment factors expected a
drop of 11.1% or 56,600, and instead got an larger drop of 15.5% of
79,187 to 431,740. A year earlier unadjusted claims totaled 596,564.

The initial claims seasonally adjusted 4-week average was
460,250, up 2,750.

In the April 10 week, continuing claims dropped 40,000 to 4.646
million and, unadjusted, were 4,906,633.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate dropped back down
a tenth to 3.6% from the 3.7% it hit for one week. A year earlier it was
4.5%. Unadjusted, it was 3.8% in the April 10 week.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below
that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are
approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and
labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

The Labor Department said that there were 508,187 fewer unadjusted
Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits claims in the April 3 week,
bringing that category to 5,347,114. Extended benefits claims rose
28,628 to 146,583, also not seasonally adjusted.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

[TOPICS: MAUDS$,MT$$$$,M$U$$$,MAUDR$]