The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending Aug. 24 increased by nearly 19 percent to 22,628 from 19,060 the week before.
The jump was led by layoffs in the transportation, educational services, and health care and social assistance industries, according to a U.S. Department of Labor news release issued today.
New York posted the biggest increase of any state in initial unemployment claims in the week ending Aug. 24
It was the third straight week of rising claims in the Empire State, following four weeks of sharply falling claims.
The number of New Yorkers continuing to receive unemployment benefits also increased in the latest week to 230,178 from 228,021 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 fell by 9,000 to 323,000 for the week ending Aug. 31, compared to the revised figure of 332,000 for the week prior. Analysts had been expecting about 335,000 initial claims in the latest week, according to Yahoo Finance.
The four-week moving average for national initial jobless claims decreased by 3,000 to 328,500 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 Aug. 31 next week.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com