In the week ended Nov. 3, the number of weekly unemployment insurance claims, seasonally adjusted, dropped 8,000, down to 355,000 from last week’s 363,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The four-week moving average, though, increased 3,250 over last week, up to 370,500 from 367,250.
In terms of unadjusted data, the 355,406 claims is down from 402,532 during the same week in 2011. The number of persons claiming unemployment benefits in state programs was 2,742,581, a decrease of 94,962 from the previous week and down from 3,210.4417 the same week last year.
The total of number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ended Oct. 20 was 5,077,231, an increase of 41,864 from the previous week, but down from 6,835,604 in the same week in 2011.
