Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased
21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended March 3, the
Labor Department said on Thursday.
Claims dropped to 210,000 in the
prior week, which was the lowest level since December 1969.
Economists
polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 220,000 in the latest
week. It was the 157th straight week that claims remained below the
300,000 threshold, which is associated with a strong labor market. That
is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was much
smaller.
Federal Reserve officials consider the labor market to be
near or a little beyond full employment. The jobless rate is at a
17-year low of 4.1 percent.
The claims data has no
impact on February’s employment report, which is scheduled for release
on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period. Claims mostly declined
in February, leading economists to expect another month of strong job
growth.
According to a Reuters survey of economists, the
Labor Department’s closely followed employment report will likely show
that nonfarm payrolls increased by 200,000 jobs last month, matching
January’s gains. The unemployment rate is forecast falling one-tenth of a
percentage point to 4.0 percent, which would be the lowest level since
December 2000.
The Labor Department said claims for
Maine and Colorado were estimated last week. It also said claims-taking
procedures in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands had still not returned
to normal, months after the territories were slammed by Hurricanes Irma
and Maria.
The four-week moving average of
initial claims, viewed as a better measure of labor market trends as it
irons out week-to-week volatility, rose 2,000 to 222,500 last week.
The
claims report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after
an initial week of aid decreased 64,000 to 1.87 million in the week
ended Feb. 24. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing
claims fell 14,250 to 1.91 million.
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