In the week ending March 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 359,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 364,000. The 4-week moving average was 365,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 368,500. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending March 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate of 2.7 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 17 was 3,340,000, a decrease of 41,000 from the preceding ... (full story)