Weekly unemployment claims edge up

For the week of July 24, 2010, there were 703 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance, an increase of 73 from the week before. Altogether 9,579 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 310 from a week ago and 3,497 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 2,329 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 207 more than a week ago. In addition, there were 1,056 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is a decrease of 182 from the week before. The state's unemployment rate has fallen to 6.0 percent (STORY). The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc