State Sees Rise In First-Time Unemployment Claimants

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

The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims increased to 2,544 from the previous week's total of 2,445. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,342.

Public administration had the largest increase in initial claims, followed by health care and social assistance.

The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,495 from the previous week's total of 2,532.

Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Aug. 15 decreased to 26,429 compared to 26,997 the previous week.

The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 27,222 from the previous week's average of 27,611.