Initial unemployment insurance claims continue to slide nationwide

Americans are continuing to utilize debt consolidation and find ways to get by other than relying on government jobless insurance services, as figures regarding the number of initial claims declined yet again in mid-April.

According to the latest Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims report released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday, Initial unemployment claims for the week ending April 17 were reported to be 456,000, 24,000 fewer than the previous week’s revised figure.

Looking at newly released data from the week ending April 10, the insured unemployment rate declined slightly as it fell 0.1 percentage points to 3.6 percent.

Similarly, the number of those using unemployment insurance during the week also decreased by 40,000 as it hit 4.646 million. The 4-week moving average of total claims also hit 4,643,750, a decrease of 5,500 from the previous total.

Despite the national decreases, only two states – Kentucky and Indiana – reported decreases in initial claims of more than 1,000 during the week. On the other hand, 16 states reported increases in claims of more than 1,000, with New York leading the way with an increase of 23,876 due to transportation and service industry layoffs.