BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Aug. 3, increased from the previous week's total.

The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims increased to 2,844 from the previous week's total of 2,627. Initial claims were below the comparable week a year earlier at 3,216.

The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, increased to 3,068 from the previous week's total of 2,878.

Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Aug. 3 decreased to 26,907, compared to the previous week's total of 27,074. The four-week moving average for such claims increased to 26,718 from the previous week's average of 26,243.

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