WASHINGTON — Seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims remained unchanged for the week ending Feb. 18, staying put at the previous week’s revised figure of 351,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims were down to 3.392 million for the week ending Feb. 11, a decrease of 52,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 3.444 million.
The 351,000 initial claims were fewer than the median 354,000 projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters, and the 3.392 million continuing claims were fewer than the median economist estimate of 3.460 million.
This week’s figure represents the fewest continuing claims since Aug. 9, 2008, when they numbered 3.337 million.