(Washington, DC) -- Fewer people filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, but it wasn't much of a drop. The latest figures from the Labor Department show 457-thousand people filed initial claims for benefits last week. It's a drop of just five-thousand from the week before. In the week of March 6th, the insured unemployment rate was three-and-a-half percent. The total number of claims, including continuing claims, was nearly four-point-six-million.
North Carolina saw the biggest increase in initial claims for unemployment for the week ending March 6th. It blamed layoffs in the construction, service, apparel and machinery sectors. Illinois had the second biggest jump in first-time claims that week due to layoffs in construction, trade and manufacturing. In the week ending February 27th, Alaska had the highest insured unemployment rate at seven-point-two-percent. Oregon and Pennsylvania followed with a rate of six-point-three-percent.
