Washington, DC, November 16, 2006--Initial and continuing claims for unemployment benefits were little changed in the most recent weeks, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
First-time claims for benefits fell by 2,000 to 308,000 in the week ending Nov. 11 from an upwardly revised 310,000 in the previous week. The four-week average, which smoothes out one-time events that can distort the weekly figures, rose by 2,000 to 313,750.
The number of people collecting unemployment benefits was unchanged at 2.44 million in the week ending Nov. 4. The four-week average of continuing claims fell by 750 to 2.43 million.
The insured unemployment rate - the percentage of those covered by unemployment insurance that are collecting benefits - remained at 1.9%.
