The data from
the Labour Department showed on
Thursday that the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly decreased last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 to 219,000 for the week that ended March 29. This was the lowest reading weekly total in seven
weeks.
Economists had predicted
225,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 225,000 from
the original estimate of 224,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims dropped to 223,000 from an upwardly revised 224,250 (from 224,000) in the previous week. This
represented the lowest count since mid-February.
As for
continuing claims, they increased to 1,903,000 from a downwardly revised
1,847,000 (from 1,856,000) in the previous week. This marked the highest
reading since mid-November 2021. Economists had forecast continuing jobless claims of 1,860,000.