According to the US Department of Labor, in the week ending March 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 654,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 645,000. The 4-week moving average was 650,000, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 643,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.0% for the week ending February 28, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.8%.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 28 was 5,317,000, an increase of 193,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 5,124,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,139,750, an increase of 124,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 5,015,500.

The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 4.533 million.