Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Both the number of Americans filing first time jobless claims and the number filing ongoing claims have dropped, the Department of Labor announced Thursday.
Initial unemployment claims filed during the week ending March 12 were 385,000, representing a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 401,000.
The four-week moving average dropped to its lowest rate since July 2008. It was 386,250, a decrease of 7,000
Ongoing jobless benefits claims dropped by 80,000 to 3,706,000 during the week ending March 5, the most recent week for which data is available. That was below the 3,750,000 continuing claims economists had expected and it was the lowest number of continuing claims since September 2008.
Although the amount of time that individuals can claim jobless benefits varies by state, the maximum benefit period in 99 weeks. In addition, not every jobless American qualifies for unemployment benefits. The percentage of Americans covered by the unemployment insurance compensation program remained unchanged at 3.0 percent for the week ending March 5.
For the week ending Feb. 26, the number of people claiming benefits in all jobless programs was 8,953,610.
Extended benefits were available for the jobless in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Those states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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