US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Trend Lower in the Week Ending March 29

On Thursday, the US Department of Labor reported that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 219,000 during the week ending Saturday, March 29. This is a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 225,000 (originally 224,000). The 4-week moving average was 223,000—a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week’s revised total of 224,250 (originally 224,000).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 22 was 1,903,000. This is an increase of 56,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 1,847,000 (originally 1,856,000) and the highest level since November 13, 2021. The 4-week moving average was 1,870,500—an increase of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,867,750 (originally 1,870,000).

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% for the week ending March 22, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous week’s unrevised rate.