Another 2.4 million American workers sought unemployment benefits last week

The U.S. Labor Department reported that 2.438 million workers filed initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in the week ending May 16, down 249,000 from the previous week's total of 2.687 million, revised downward by 294,000 from the 2.981 million reported initially.In New York state, the initial number of claims rose to 226,521, up 27,102 from 199,419 reported the week ending May 9.