WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims decreased 5,000 to 457,000 for the week ending March 13, the third weekly decline and lowest number of initial claims in more than a month, the Labor Department reported today.
Continuing claims increased to 4.579 million for the week ending March 6, the second consecutive gain.
Economists had expected 455,000 initial claims and 4.54 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the week ended March 6 were unrevised at 462,000 and continuing claims were revised higher to 4.567 million from 4.558 million in the week ended Feb. 27.
New York and California led all states with the sharpest declines in initial claims with 10,929 and 7,235 fewer initial claims respectively.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, a less volatile figure, fell to 471,250 from 475,500 in the previous week. The four-week average for continuing claims decreased to 4.575 million from 4.583 million.
Initial claims have fallen from the 2009 high of 674,000 set in the week of March 28 and touched a low of 432,000 in the week of Dec. 26.
Continuing claims peaked for 2009 at 6.904 million in the week of June 27 and dipped as low as 4.521 million claims in the week of Feb. 20 this year.
