Weekly Jobless Claims Drop; Continuing Claims Hit Record

The nation’s economic situation proved to still be slumping after a government report showed the number of workers collecting state unemployment benefits surged to a record high.
The Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 646,000 for the week ending March 14. Analysts were expecting 652,000 new claims.
The number of people staying on state benefits jumped by 185,000 to hit a record 5.47 million for the week ending March 7.
The four-week average for new claims jumped to 654,750 -- a 26-year high -- while the four-week average of continuing claims rose to 5.25 million. Continuing claims have increased 10 times in the last 12 weeks and are up 19% since last year.
The slight dip in initial claims doesn’t leave much to celebrate, according to Mark Lieberman, senior economist for FOX Business “Despite the week-week dip, the four-week moving average increased again, and is 58% higher than the weekly average during the 2001 recession and 51% higher than the weekly average during the 1990-91 recession.”
The government also revises last week’s report up to 658,000 from 654,000.