BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Fewer people are filing initial unemployment insurance claims or requesting payments under continued claims, officials said Thursday, but Idaho’s overall jobless numbers remain bleak.
The Idaho Department of Labor said that 4,700 people filed claims last week, a drop of about 1,100 from the week before that.
The agency also said that continued claims dropped for the third consecutive week, falling 5.7% to about 57,000.
However, Idaho’s unemployment rate for April was 11.5% with nearly 103,000 Idaho residents unemployed. Final numbers for May won’t come out until next month.
Idaho paid out $11.2 million in unemployment benefits last week, about an 8% decrease from the week before.
Idaho has been slowly reopening and is in stage 2 of Republican Gov. Brad Little’s four-stage plan to return the state to regular activity.
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