In the week ending February 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 344,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 366,000. The 4-week moving average was 355,000, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 361,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending February 16, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's revised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 16 was 3,074,000, a decrease of 91,000 from the preceding ... (full story)