HousingWire tells us the government reports Americans filing jobless claims fell to 370,000 for the week ending May 19, down from 372,000 the previous week. The four week moving average hit 370,000 as well. For the week ending May 5, the total number of people claiming benefits from all the government programs dropped by 105,004 filings to 6.128 million. MHProNews.com has learned the states with the highest insured unemployment rates as of May 5 are Alaska at 4.9%, California and Puerto Rico with 3.6%, Pennsylvania at 3.5%, and New Jersey and Oregon at 3.4%. For the week ending May 12, the states with the largest spikes in claims were all in the South: North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The largest drops in claims occurred in New York, California, Missouri, Illinois, and Texas.
