Weekly Jobless Claims Rise Another 2.438 Million for Week Ending May 16th

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 2.438 million Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, May 16th. A decline of 249,000 from the previous week’s revised level. Although the number remains high, it is the seventh straight week in a row, of a declining pace, after the record-breaking peak of 6.9 million filings during the week ending March 28th. Over the past nine weeks, more than 38.6 American’s have filed for unemployment benefits. For the week ending May 9th the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 17.2%.