New York’s initial jobless claims soar 71 percent in latest week

The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending Dec. 7 jumped  by 71 percent to 34,414 from 20,092 the week before.

Layoffs in New York’s construction, transportation and warehousing, and food service industries led the rise, according to a U.S. Department of Labor news release issued today.

The Empire State’s initial jobless claims reached their highest level in nearly five months. California was the only state to post a larger increase (plus 21,876) than New York in claims in the week ending Dec. 7, according to the release.

The number of New Yorkers continuing to receive unemployment benefits also rose sharply in the latest week to 230,590 from 206,743 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 unexpectedly by 10,000 to 379,000, a nearly nine-month high, for the week ending Dec. 14. Analysts had been expecting 333,000 initial claims in the latest week, according to Yahoo Finance data.

The four-week moving average for national initial jobless claims rose by 13,250 to 343,500 in the latest week. The U.S. data is seasonally adjusted.

The Labor Department will release state data for new unemployment-benefit applications for the week ending Dec. 14 next week.