Unemployment Claims Down for Week Ending 8/1/15

BATON ROUGE

Initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending Aug. 1, 2015 decreased to 2,479 from the previous week’s total of 2,510. Initial claims were above the comparable figure of 2,293 for the week ending Aug. 2, 2014.

Construction had the largest decrease in initial claims, followed by health care and social assistance. Initial claims for mining, which includes oil and gas exploration and extraction workers, increased from 73 to 74. Others working in the oil and gas support services are spread among various sectors.

The four-week moving average of initial claims decreased to 2,784 from the previous week’s average of 2,841.

Continued unemployment insurance weeks claimed for the week ending Aug. 1, 2015 decreased to 27,591 from the previous week’s total of 27,869. Continued weeks claimed were above the comparable figure of 23,204 for the week ending Aug. 2, 2014.

The four-week moving average of continued weeks claimed increased to 27,563 from the previous week’s average of 27,316.