Feb. 20 (UPI) — The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time reached a seasonally adjusted 219,000 last week, some 5,000 more than the previous week’s revised total of 219,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
While the total was slightly elevated, one of the key economic indicators watched by the Federal Reserve appears not to have been affected by layoffs at the federal layoffs.
The four-week moving average for initial jobless insurance applications was 215,250, a decrease of 1,000 from last week’s revised total of 216,250. That previous week’s total was revised up 250 by the Labor Department.
The advanced unadjusted number of actual claims ending last week was 222,626, a decrease of 10,118 from the previous week, the Labor Department said.
The advanced total of overall weekly unemployment benefits filings for the week ending Feb. 8 reached 1.869 million, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week’s revised total. The previous total was revised down 5,000 to 1.845 million.
The four-week moving average for overall jobless claims was 1,862,500, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week’s total of 1,870,2050, which had been revised down by 1,250.