BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending March 15 increased from the previous week's total.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission said Friday that initial claims rose to 2,232 from the previous week's total of 1,857. There were 1,889 initial claims during the comparable week in 2013.

The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, increased to 2,045 from the previous week's average of 1,985.

Continued unemployment weeks claimed for the week ending March 15 decreased to 19,964 compared to 20,292 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 20,875 from the previous week's average of 21,453.

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