First-Time Jobless Claims Drop In Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — First-time claims for unemployment payments dropped nearly nine percent last week in Louisiana. The Louisiana Workforce Commission says 3,231 newly jobless workers filed for benefits during the week ending March 12th. That's down from 3,545 the previous week. The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 3,285 from the previous week's average of 3,517. For the comparable week that ended March 13th, 2010, the state recorded 4,027 first-time claims. Last week, those still looking for work filed for an additional 44,607 weeks of benefits, down slightly from the previous week's total of 45,618. For the comparable week in 2010, there were 59,641 additional benefit weeks.