New Hampshire jobless claims tick up slightly
(The Center Square) – New applications for unemployment benefits in New Hampshire ticked up slightly last week, as more Granite Staters were put out of work amid the ongoing economic fallout of the pandemic.
At least 3,777 unemployment claims were filed for the week that ended Feb. 13, an increase of 183 claims over the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s weekly report.
There were also 283 new claims for federally backed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, at least 6 fewer than the previous week, the federal agency said.
Meanwhile, 26,374 continuing claims – which are viewed as a barometer of the unemployment situation – were filed in the week ending Feb. 6, declining by 808 over the previous week.
New Hampshire’s unemployment rate for December was 4%, a slight increase from the previous month, according to New Hampshire Employment Security.
The state has paid out more than $1.7 billion in federal and state unemployment benefits since mid-March, when the COVID-19 outbreak began.
Nationally, about 861,000 new jobless claims were filed last week, an increase of about 13,000 claims from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.
Continuing claims dropped by 64,000 to about 4.49 million nationally for the week that ended Feb. 6 the labor department said.
Despite the improving labor market, more than 18.3 million Americans are still receiving state or federal unemployment benefits in the week ending Jan. 30.
The U.S. unemployment rate is currently 6.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from a peak of 14.8% in March 2020.
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