How states fared on unemployment benefit claims

May 2, 2013 @ 6:13 am

(AP) - The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to seasonally adjusted 324,000, the lowest since January 2008. The drop points to fewer layoffs, but companies still need to ramp up hiring in order to rapidly lower unemployment.

Here are the states with the biggest changes in unemployment aid applications. The state level data are for the week ended April 20, one week behind the national data.

States with the biggest increases:

Michigan: Up 6,172, no reason given

Massachusetts: Up 4,101, due to layoffs in education

Connecticut: Up 2,452, due to layoffs in education

Rhode Island: Up 1,427, due to layoffs in education.

States with the biggest decreases:

California: Down 16,681, due to fewer layoffs in services

New York: Down 6,443, due to fewer layoffs in transportation, food services, and health care

Pennsylvania: Down 3,646, due to fewer layoffs in transportation, construction and health care

Texas: Down 3,070, no reason given

Indiana: Down 1,637, no reason given

Florida: Down 1,571, due to fewer layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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