BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The state labor department says first-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Nov. 29 decreased to 1,698 from the previous week's total of 2,547, a drop attributed to a short work week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 1,850 initial claims, officials said Friday.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, decreased to 2,244, from the previous week's average of 2,364.

Continued unemployment claims for the week ending Nov. 29 decreased to 19,558 compared to 19,764 the previous week.

The four-week moving average for such claims increased to 19,410 from the previous week's average of 19,318.

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