WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits fell 22,000 to 344,000 in the Feb. 23 week, well below the expected 360,000 level and the 373,000 seen in the same week of 2012, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Forecasts in a MNI survey of economists had centered around a expectations of a slight decline in jobless claims to 360,000 from the 366,000 of the previous week, which was revised upward by 4,000.
A Labor Department analyst said no states were estimated in the week. Seasonal factors had predicted a 23,000 decrease (-6.6%) but "actually picked up a 43,000 drop or 12.2%, which caused the seasonally adjusted levels to decline.
The state data for the Feb. 16 week, showed only four states with increases in initial claims of the 53 reporting: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Mexico. (The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands are included in this data.)
The initial claims seasonally adjusted four-week moving average was fell 6,750 to 355,00 in the latest week.
Continuing claims came in at 3.074 million, seasonally adjusted, compared to 3.165 million in the Feb. 16 week, a decline of 91,000, making it the lowest level since July 21, 2008. The level in the same period of last year was 3.427 million.
Unadjusted, continuing claims fell 152,148 to 3.516 million and remains below the 3.882 million level in the comparable week a year ago.
The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.4% in the Feb. 23 week and is still below the 2.7% rate in the same week of 2012.
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.
The Labor Department reported that a total of 5,764,168 persons claimed unemployment benefits in the Feb 9 week, an increase of 183,841 from the previous week and well below the 7,498,600 persons in the comparable week a year ago. These data are not seasonally adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal employee claims, new veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits programs, state additional benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.
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