This morning the state Employment Security Department reported that it received 143,241 new claims for unemployment insurance during the April 5-April 11 week. This is a decrease of 26,822 from the 170,063 claims filed during the preceding week. The four-week moving average of initial claims is 156,060, up from 123,789 for the preceding week.

We estimate that the seasonally adjusted 4-week average of initial claims was 165,590, up from 133,960 in the preceding week.

Continued claims for unemployment insurance totaled a record 435,891 in the most recent week. This is an increase of 130,542 over the preceding week.