WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims dropped 6,000 to 388,000 for the week ending March 26, following an upward revision to last week's figure, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The initial claims figure for March 19 was revised to 394,000 from 382,000 reported last week. Today's data includes revisions to the seasonal adjustment factors dating back to 2006.
Continuing claims data for the week ending March 19 fell to 3.714 million from 3.765 million in the prior week.
Economists expected 380,000 initial claims and 3.7 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The seasonal adjustment revision did not dramatically alter the initial claims figures for 2010. Claims hit a high for 2010 in the week of Aug. 4 with 488,000 claims. The figure has steadily declined since then, dropping to 375,000 claims last month.
The four-week moving average for initial claims, a less volatile figure, increased for the second week in a row to 394,250. The four-week average for continuing claims fell to 3.765 million.
Nine states reported a drop of more than 1,000 initial claims for the week ending March 19. No states reported an increase of more than 1,000 claims for the week.
