U.S. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Drop By 6,000 To 445,000

September 11, 2008 11:16 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - U.S. weekly initial jobless claims for insurance fell by 6,000 to 445,000 during the week ending Sept. 6, according to the Labor Department on Thursday.

The number of individuals filing initial jobless claims for unemployment benefits dropped more-than-projected last week as the analysts had projected the figure to fall by 4,000

The four-week average of initial jobless claims moved up slightly to 440,000 during the week ending Sept. 6, compared to the claims at 439,750 the week before that.

While, the four-week average of continuing jobless claims increased by 36,750 to reach 3.43 million, the most since November 2003, compared to 3.40 million the prior week.

Economy lost 84,000 private nonfarm jobs in the month of August, according to a government report released early this month.

The unemployment rate soared more-than-expected to 6.1 percent during the same month, the Labor Department reported in Washington.

The unemployment rate has consistently increased over the period of eight months from 4.4 percent. The market analysts had projected the rate to remain unchanged last month at 5.7 percent.

The U.S. economy has now lost 605,000 jobs so far this year including the date from the August report.

The report indicated that the continued job losses pushed up the unemployment rate to the highest in almost five years as the economic growth worsens.

Today's report showed that there were 28 states and territories reported an increase in initial jobless claims. The rest 25 registered a decline in the unemployment claims for the August 30 week.

The State of Ohio led the biggest increase in the claims for the week ended August 30 by laying-off 2,835. Louisiana registered a decline in the claims 2,228 workers.