–Continuing Claims Drop Further, At Lowest Level Since Sep. 27, 2008 Wk
–Four-week Moving Average Again Lowest Since July 12, 2008 Week
–Labor Analyst: Only Alaska Estimated In Current Week, Nothing Usual

By Brai Odion-Esene and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits dropped by 5,000 to 387,000 in the March 19 week, while a
further decline kept continuing claims at their lowest level in almost
three years, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

In what a Labor Dept. analyst described as “an uneventful report,”
initial claims declines in three of the last four weeks pulled the
four-week moving average down 1,500 to 385,250, again the lowest since
the July 12, 2008 week, when it was 385,000.

The Labor analyst said only Alaska was estimated in the current
week and there was “nothing unusual” in the state data.

According to the analyst, seasonal factors had expected a
“reasonably small” 5%, or about 18,500, drop in unadjusted claims.
Instead, unadjusted claims fell by a slightly larger-than-expected 6.3%,
or 23,487 claims, to 351,204. Unadjusted claims were at a level of
408,653 in the comparable week a year ago.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to come in at 385,000 in the current week, the same level
originally reported in the previous week. The March 12 week’s level was
revised up to 387,000.

In the March 12 employment survey week, continuing claims fell by
2,000 to 3,721,000, still the lowest since Sept. 27, 2008, when it came
in at 3,658,000. Unadjusted continuing claims declined by 36,286 to
4,260,519 in the March 12 week and were well below the 5,344,610 level
reported a year earlier.

In a monthly jobs report survey week comparison, continuing claims
are down by 112,000 vs. the week of February 12, when claims came in at
3,833,000.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate remained at 3.0%
in March 12 week from the previous week, down vs. the 3.6% reported in
the comparable week a year earlier.

The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below
that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are
approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and
labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.

The Labor Department said that the level of unadjusted Emergency
Unemployment Compensation benefits claims rose by 85,712 in the March 5
week, bringing that category to 3,627,654. Extended benefits claims
decreased by 98,240 to 716,951, not seasonally adjusted in the same
week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 8,766,062 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the March 5 week, a decrease of 187,370
from the 8,953,432 claims reported in the previous week, but well below
the 11,316,420 persons in the comparable week a year ago. These data are
not seasonally adjusted, and include regular state claims, federal
employee claims, new veterans claims, the EUC and extended benefits
programs, state additional benefits, and STC/Workshare claims.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

[TOPICS: MAUDS$,MT$$$$,M$U$$$,MAUDR$]