U.S. unemployment claims fall

In the week ending Feb. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims in the U.S. was 469,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week’s revised figure. The four-week moving average was 470,750, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Feb. 20, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s revised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Feb. 20 was 4.5 million, a decrease of 134,000 from the preceding week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was approximately 4.58 million, a decrease of 29,250 from the preceding week’s revised average.

The fiscal year-to-date average of seasonally adjusted weekly insured unemployment, which corresponds to the appropriated AWIU trigger, was 5.186 million.