WASHINGTON – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 to a level of 241,000 in the March 11 week, only slightly ahead of the 240,000 level expected, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
There were no special factors reported by the Labor Department and no state data had to be estimated this week.
Seasonal adjustment factors had expected a decrease of 7.9%, or 19,234, in unadjusted claims in week. Unadjusted claims instead fell by 21,449 to 222,510. The current week's unadjusted level was below the 236,888 level in the comparable week a year ago.
The four-week moving average for initial claims rose by only 750 to 237,250 in the March 11 week.
Annual revisions to the claims data will be released next Thursday, which could alter weekly levels over the last five years. If the headline number of claims does not change next week and there are no revisions to the levels in the last four weeks, the average will move down only slightly as a 242,000 level rolls out of the calculation.
The level of continuing claims fell by 30,000 to 2.030 million in the March 4 week. Before seasonal adjustment, continuing claims for the March 4 week fell by 98,874 to 2.349 million. This level remained well below the 2.548 million level seen in the comparable week a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate held steady at 1.5%, down from 1.6% a year earlier.
The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.
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