U.S. unemployment claims increase

In the week ending April 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims in the U.S. was 460,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week’s revised figure. The four-week moving average was 450,250, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending March 27, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 27 was 4.55 million, a decrease of 131,000 from the preceding week’s revised level. The four-week moving average was approximately 4.65 million, a decrease of 36,000 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 5.236 million.