MARYLAND WEEKLY JOBLESS CLAIMS DROP

First-time filings for unemployment benefits are down in Maryland.  U.S. labor officials say there were about 23-hundred-50 new jobless claims filed last week, which is a decrease of about 75 from the previous week.  Weekly jobless claims are considered a strong indicator of the health of the labor market.  Nationally, new unemployment filings decreased by three-thousand to 217-thousand last week.