The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday that the number of applications for unemployment came
in below economists’ projections last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 1,000 to 224,000 for the week that ended March 22.
Economists had forecast
225,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 225,000 from
the original estimate of 223,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims declined to 224,000 from an upwardly revised 285,750 (from 227,000) in the previous week. This was
the first decrease in five weeks.
As for
continuing claims, they fell to 1,856,000,
from a downwardly revised
1,881,000 (from 1,892,000) in the previous week. This marked the highest
reading in four weeks. Economists had expected continuing jobless claims of 1,890,000.