La. initial jobless claims increase

First-time claims for jobless benefits increased by 100 the last week of October in Louisiana.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission says, that for the week ending Oct. 30, there were 3,596 of the newly unemployed seeking benefits. That’s up from the previous week’s total of 3,496.

For the comparable week ending Oct. 31, 2009, there were 4,533 first-time claims.

The state says there were 48,599 continued weeks of benefits claimed that week, down from 48,762 the previous week. A year ago, the unemployed in Louisiana claimed 60,755 additional weeks of jobless payments.