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Seasonally adjusted unemployment insurance claims fell 6 percent nationally in the week that ended Oct. 3 and hit the lowest number since January, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.

The number of claims fell for the fourth time in the past five weeks.

The advance figure for claims in the period was 521,000, 33,000 less than the previous week’s revised figure of 554,000, the agency said in a release.

The four-week moving average was 539,750, down 9,000, or 1.6 percent, from the previous week’s revised average of 548,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.5 percent for the week that ended Sept. 26, down 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 4.6 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment claims during the week ending Sept. 26 was 6.04 million, down 72,000, or 1.2 percent, from the preceding week’s revised level of 6.11 million.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week that ended Sept. 26 were in California (4,467), Ohio (3,421), Illinois (1,815), Missouri (1,049) and Tennessee (1,048). The largest decreases were in New York (2,253), North Carolina (1,609), South Carolina (1,159), Arkansas (818) and Florida (734).

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week that ended Sept. 19 were in Puerto Rico (6.1 percent), Oregon (5.3), Nevada (5.2), Pennsylvania (5.0), California (4.9), Michigan (4.8), Wisconsin (4.7), Arkansas (4.6), North Carolina (4.6) and South Carolina (4.5).

Courtesy of the Triangle Business Journal