The data from
the Labour Department showed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment came in above economists’ projections last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits held steady at 217,000 for the
week ended March 2.
Economists had predicted
215,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 217,000 from the original estimate of 215,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims slipped to 212,250 from an unrevised 212,500 in the previous
week. This represented the lowest count in five weeks.
As for
continuing claims, they increased to 1,906,000 from a downwardly revised 1,898,000
(from 1,905,000) in the previous week. This marked the highest reading since the week ended November 18, 2023 (1,925,000). Economists had forecast continuing jobless claims of 1,889,000.