U.S. Jobless Claims Unchanged At Slightly Upwardly Revised Level
(RTTNews) - A day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in flat in the week ended February 28th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims came in at 213,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 212,000 originally reported for the previous week.
"Initial jobless claims are consistent with our view that labor-market conditions have stabilized and will improve as 2026 unfolds," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average fell to 215,750, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average of 220,500.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, increased by 46,000 to 1.868 million in the week ended February 21st.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose to 1,851,500, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,844,750.
"Continued claims jumped in the week ended February 21, but continued claims tend to be more volatile week to week, and we expect to see at least some of the increase reversed in the week ended February 28," said Vanden Houten.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched report on employment in the month of February.
Economists currently expect employment to rise by 60,000 jobs in February after jumping by 130,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent.
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