Weekly Jobless Claims Fall Again

Hello, Thursday! What does our weekly jobless claims report look like?

Applications for jobless benefits declined by 10,000 for the week ending March 9, bringing the total to 332,000, down from last week’s revised figure of 342,000, the Labor Department announced on Thursday.

This reduces the average number of weekly applications last month to a five-year low.

The four-week moving average, a “less volatile” figure, fell by 2,750, bringing the total to 346,750, down from last week’s revised average of 349,500.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending March 2, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate,” the report reads.

“The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 2 was 3,024,000, a decrease of 89,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,113,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,098,250, a decrease of 28,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,126,500,” it adds.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 2 were California (+11,720), New York (+7,900), Missouri (+2,722), Kansas (+1,419), and Washington (+813).

Meanwhile, Massachusetts (-4,193), North Carolina (-1,146), Connecticut (-913), Michigan (-909), and Florida (-726) posted the biggest decreases in initial claims.

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Front page photo courtesy Getty Images.