Initial Unemployment Claims Drop

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Aug. 2 decreased from the previous week's total.

The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims decreased to 2,293 from the previous week's total of 2,312. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,844.

The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,533 from the previous week's total of 2,535.

Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Aug. 2 decreased to 23,204 compared to 23,406 the previous week.

The four-week moving average for such claims increased to 23,197 from the previous week's average of 23,014.