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Jobless Claims Fell By 8,000 Last Week; Superstorm Sandy Might Be Factor

Job-related booklets at a New York State Department of Labor Employment Services office in Brooklyn.
Chris Hondros
/
Getty Images
Job-related booklets at a New York State Department of Labor Employment Services office in Brooklyn.

There were 355,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down by 8,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration says.

But a measure designed to show the trend edged up: "The 4-week moving average was 370,500, an increase of 3,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 367,250."

And, The Associated Press says, the week-over-week decline might have been due in part to Superstorm Sandy: Some people who might have applied for benefits couldn't because of the damage the storm inflicted on parts of New Jersey, New York and surrounding states.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.