The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending Jan. 18 fell by 5,493, or 16 percent, to 28,584 from the week before.
Fewer layoffs in the state’s construction, transportation and warehousing, and information industries led the decline, according to a U.S. Department of Labor news release issued today.
Jobless claims in the Empire State have now declined sharply for two weeks after spiking to start the year.
The number of New Yorkers continuing to receive unemployment benefits also fell in the week ending Jan. 18 to 255,766 from 279,382 the week before.
The state data is not seasonally adjusted.
The U.S. Labor Department also reported Thursday that nationwide the number of people filing initial unemployment claims rose by 19,000 to 348,000 for the week ending Jan. 25, compared to the revised figure of 329,000 for the week prior. Analysts had been expecting about 330,000 initial claims in the latest week, according to Yahoo Finance.
The four-week moving average for national, first-time jobless claims increased by 750 to 333,000 in the latest week. The U.S. data is seasonally adjusted.
The Labor Department will release state data for new unemployment-benefit filings for the week ending Jan. 25 next week.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com