The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims rose 6,000 to 229,000 for the week ending March 9. The 4-week moving average was 223,750, a decline of 2,500.
Both figures for the previous week were unrevised.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was unchanged at a very low 1.2% for the week ending March 2.
No state was triggered “on” the Extended Benefits program during the week ending February 23.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending February 23 were in Alaska (3.1), New Jersey (2.8), Rhode Island (2.8), Connecticut (2.6), Montana (2.6), Massachusetts (2.5), Pennsylvania (2.3), California (2.2), Illinois (2.2), and West Virginia (2.2).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 2 were in New York (+16,253), California (+6,636), Pennsylvania (+1,774), Oregon (+1,576), and Georgia (+661), while the largest decreases were in Massachusetts (-4,196), Kentucky (-3,117), Washington (-1,185), Rhode Island (-1,100), and Michigan (-756).
