Week-over-week initial claims for unemployment for the week ended March 2 remained flat at 217,000, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The four-week moving average for initial claims was 212,250, a decrease of 750 from the previous week’s revised average, according to BLS. Continuing claims, however, increased by 8,000 to almost 2 million. This is the greatest increase in continuing claims since November.
“The unemployment rate is 3.7% and has been below 4% for 24 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s,” ABC News reported.
This low rate may be a sign that the job market is easing, according to experts. In a semi- annual money policy report to Congress on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told legislators that inflation “has eased substantially, and the slowing in inflation has occurred without a significant increase in unemployment.” Additionally, he said, “as labor market tightness has eased and progress on inflation has continued, the risks to achieving our employment and inflation goals have been moving into better balance.”
After raising interest rates 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023 in an effort to cool inflation, Powell declined to say whether or when the Fed might lower rates.
The Labor Department is expected to issue its February jobs report on Friday.
