New jobless claims rise, but overall NH employment picture looks good

New unemployment claims in New Hampshire rose a bit in the most recent reporting period, but continuing claims continued their slow decline, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

For the week ending May 1, 1,833 new jobless claims were filed, a 23% increase over the previous week, after a 15% decline from the week ending April 24.

However, continuing claims filed in the week ending continued to fall. In the week ending April 24, they totaled 19,140, a 4% drop, in the wake of 2% decline the week before.

That means twice as many people left the unemployment rolls than were added a week later, which signals the economy is still headed in the right direction.

Federal continuing claims from the week ending April 17 pretty much held steady (less than a fifth of a percent drop), at 9,432, after a big jump the week before. Most of the people filing for federal benefits are self-employed, but a good chunk is made up of those who had to stay home for Covid-related care.

But since the reporting period still doesn’t take into consideration Gov. Chris Sununu’s order opening all schools on April 19, the data in the coming weeks should change.

Nationally, initial jobless claims fell last week by 10%, to 498,000, dipping below the 500,000 mark for the first time since the recession began.