The number of U.S. workers seeking unemployment benefits didn’t change much this week.
According to statistics released Thursday by the Labor Department, first-time jobless claims filings were at 224,000 for the week ending March 22. That’s a drop of 1,000 and is in line with the 225,000 new applications analysts forecast.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.
The four-week average, which evens out some of the week-to-week swings, fell by 4,750 to 224,000.
The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 15 declined by 25,000 to 1.86 million.
