The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to seasonally adjusted 324,000, the lowest since January 2008. The drop points to fewer layoffs, but companies still need to ramp up hiring in order to rapidly lower unemployment.
Here are the states with the biggest changes in unemployment aid applications. The state level data are for the week ended April 20, one week behind the national data.
States with the biggest increases:
Michigan: Up 6,172, no reason given
Massachusetts: Up 4,101, due to layoffs in education
Connecticut: Up 2,452, due to layoffs in education
Rhode Island: Up 1,427, due to layoffs in education.
States with the biggest decreases:
California: Down 16,681, due to fewer layoffs in services
New York: Down 6,443, due to fewer layoffs in transportation, food services, and health care
Pennsylvania: Down 3,646, due to fewer layoffs in transportation, construction and health care
Texas: Down 3,070, no reason given
Indiana: Down 1,637, no reason given
Florida: Down 1,571, due to fewer layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail
