By Kevin Kastner and Ian McKendry

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment
benefits fell by 6,000 to 388,000 in the March 26 week, the U.S. Labor
Department reported Thursday.

Annual revisions back to 2006 were included in the data.

According to a Labor Department analyst, seasonal factors had
expected a 1.3%, rise in unadjusted claims. Instead, unadjusted claims
were roughly flat, falling only 156 to 354,301. Unadjusted claims were
at a level of 412,700 in the comparable week a year ago.

The four-week moving average rose 3,250 to 394,250 in the March 26
week.

Economists surveyed by Market News International had expected
initial claims to come in at 380,000 in the current week, down 2,000
from the originally reported 382,000 level in the previous week. The
March 19 week’s level was revised up sharply to 394,000.

In the March 19 week, continuing claims fell by 51,000 to
3,714,000, the lowest level since the October 11, 2008 week, when it
came in at 3,709,000. Unadjusted continuing claims fell by 165,617 to
4,111,925 million in the March 19 week and were well below the 5,207,496
level reported a year earlier.

The state data released for the March 19 week point to declines in
the number of unadjusted claims in 41 states and territories, and a rise
in 12.

The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at
3.0% in March 19 week, still well below 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 fell by 38,838 in the March 12
week, bringing that category to 3,588,816 Extended benefits claims rose
by 56,770 to 773,721, not seasonally adjusted in the same week.

The Labor Department reported that a total of 8,770,443 persons
claimed unemployment benefits in the March 12 week, a rise of only 4,372
from the 8,766,071 claims reported in the previous week, but well below
the 11,537,398 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$]