Figures released Thursday by the U.S. Labor Departmentnitial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 6,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 265,000 for the week ended March 19.
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State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said job seekers and employers should use the GDOL’s online job listing service, www.employgeorgia.com to search for jobs or recruit new employees.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 268,000 from the 265,000 originally reported for the previous week. It was 6.2 percent in February 2015, the department said. Applications for jobless benefits have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with healthy labour market conditions, for 55 weeks, the longest stretch since 1973.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits declined by 39,000 to 2.18 million in the week ended March 12.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, edged up by 250 to 259,750, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was unchanged in February, holding steady at 5.4 percent.
Metro Dalton’s unemployment rate for February was 6.4 percent, down eight-tenths of a percentage point from 7.2 percent in January. The rate was up from 5.1 percent in January.
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The Columbus metro area saw its job total dip by 200 from January to February, with there now 121,000 positions locally.
