WASHINGTON - Weekly unemployment insurance claims decreased by 1,000 to 309,000 according to statistics released by the Department of Labor Thursday.
The advance weekly figure for the seasonally adjusted four week moving average was 307,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 304,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.9 percent for the week ending May 26, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 1.9 percent.
The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 261,509 in the week ending June 2, a decrease of 12,407 from the previous week. There were 260,263 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006.
Indiana, New York and Michigan experienced higher than expected claims due to additional layoffs in the manufacturing, service and automotive industries.