US Weekly Jobless Claims Climb in the Week Ending February 24th

On Thursday, the US Department of Labor reported that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 215,000 during the week ending Saturday, February 24th. This is an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 202,000 (originally 201,000). The 4-week moving average was 212,500—a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 215,500 (originally 215,250).

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment, known as continuing claims, during the week ending February 17th was 1,905,000. This is an increase of 45,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 1,860,000 (originally 1,862,000). The 4-week moving average was 1,879,750—an increase of 2,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,877,000 (originally 1,877,500). The four-week moving average is at its highest level since December 11th, 2021, when it was 1,888,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% for the week ending February 17th, an increase of 0.1% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.