Initial Unemployment Claims Rise

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Sept. 13 increased from the previous week's total.

The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims increased to 2,071 from the previous week's total of 1,961. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,663 claims.

The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,134 from the previous week's total of 2,202.

Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Sept.13 decreased to 20,486 compared to 20,739 the previous week.

The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 21,179 from the previous week's average of 21,656.