Initial claims for unemployment benefits dipped to 210,000 for the week that ended March 23, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number represents a decline of 2,000 applications from the previous week.
The decrease in initial claims, economists said, suggests that job growth remained strong in March.
In addition, the four-week average of claims fell by 750 to 211,000 from the previous week.
Overall unemployment claims have increased, however; 1.8 million Americans were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended March 16, up 24,000 from the week before. The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 16 were in Missouri (up 1,443), Michigan (1,204), Tennessee (538), Mississippi (353) and Arkansas (279). The largest decreases were in California (down 5,794), Oregon (1,651), Texas (856), Pennsylvania (740) and Illinois (626).
But the overall economy is faring better than expected, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis’ fourth-quarter 2023 report on the gross domestic product, also released Thursday, which indicates that the inflationary pressures are showing signs of easing.
“The Commerce Department’s revised measure of the nation’s gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — confirmed that the economy decelerated from its sizzling 4.9% rate of expansion in the July-September quarter,” the Associated Press reported.
“The Federal Reserve’s favored measure of prices — called the personal consumption expenditures price index — rose at a 1.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter. That was down from 2.6% in the third quarter, and it was the smallest rise since 2020, when COVID-19 triggered a recession and sent prices falling,” according to the media outlet.
