Jobless Claims Stronger than Expected for March 16

Weekly Jobless Claims Sample Period Includes March Employment Situation Report

The Labor Department said advance seasonally adjusted jobless claims came in at 221,000 for the week ending March 16, stronger than the consensus forecast. That’s a decline of 9,000 from the previous week.

The consensus forecast was 225,000, with forecasts ranging from a low of 212,000 to a high of 243,000. Worth noting, the sample period partially includes the monthly jobs report for March, or Employment Situation.

The 4-week moving average was 225,000, a gain of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 223,750 to 224,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at a very low 1.2% for the week ending March 9.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment declined 27,000 during the week ending March 9 to 1,750,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,772,500, an increase of 6,000.

No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending March 2.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending March 2 were in Alaska (3.2), New Jersey (2.8), Montana (2.7), Connecticut (2.5), Rhode Island (2.5), California (2.4), Pennsylvania (2.4), Massachusetts (2.3), Illinois (2.2), and Minnesota (2.2).

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 9 were in Illinois (+3,568), Ohio (+1,142), Washington (+896), Oregon (+869), and Texas (+661), while the largest decreases were in New York (-16,497), Kentucky (-1,668), Georgia (-615), Arkansas (-430), and Vermont (-415).