U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Declined in the Week of March 14
Summary
- New claims declined by 8,000 to 205,000.
- Continuing claims rose by 10,000 to 1.857 million
- The insured unemployment rate remained at 1.2%.
- The annual revision to the claims seasonal factors reflects minor changes in the claims series over the past year, with one notable upward revision to the November 29 week, when claims were revised from 192,000 to 216,000.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 8,000 to 205,000 in the week ending March 14, from an unrevised level of 213,000 in the week ending March 7. The four-week average declined 750 to 210,750 in the March 14 week from 211,500 in the prior week, revised from 212,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey looked for 215,000 claims to have been filed.
The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”—increased by 10,000 to 1.857 million in the week ending March 7, from 1.847 million in the week ending February 28, revised from 1.850 million. The four-week moving average stood at 1.850 million, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week’s average of 1.852 million. The insured unemployment rate remained at 1.2% in the week of March 7. It has remained at that level since the week of November 29, 2025.
The insured unemployment rate varied greatly across individual states and territories. In the week ending February 28, the highest unemployment rates were in Rhode Island (3.38%), New Jersey (2.95%), Massachusetts (2.83%), Washington (2.48%), Minnesota (2.44%), California (2.25%), New York (2.15%), Illinois and Montana (both 2.07%). The lowest rates were in Florida (0.30%), Louisiana (0.34%), Arkansas (0.38%), Alabama (0.40%) and North Carolina (0.41%). Rates in other notable states include Connecticut (2.00%), Pennsylvania (1.89%), and Texas (1.08%). These state data are not seasonally adjusted.
Note from the DOL: This week's release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment claims seasonal adjustment factors. The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2021 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised.
Data on weekly unemployment claims are from the Department of Labor itself, not the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They begin in 1967 and are contained in Haver’s WEEKLY database and summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW back to December 1986.
Kathleen Stephansen, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Kathleen Stephansen is a Senior Economist for Haver Analytics and an Independent Trustee for the EQAT/VIP/1290 Trust Funds, encompassing the US mutual funds sponsored by the Equitable Life Insurance Company. She is a former Chief Economist of Huawei Technologies USA, Senior Economic Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, Chief Economist of the American International Group (AIG) and AIG Asset Management’s Senior Strategist and Global Head of Sovereign Research. Prior to joining AIG in 2010, Kathleen held various positions as Chief Economist or Head of Global Research at Aladdin Capital Holdings, Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities Corporation.
Kathleen serves on the boards of the Global Interdependence Center (GIC), as Vice-Chair of the GIC College of Central Bankers, is the Treasurer for Economists for Peace and Security (EPS) and is a former board member of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE). She is a member of Chatham House and the Economic Club of New York. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the Universite Catholique de Louvain and graduate degrees in economics from the University of New Hampshire (MA) and the London School of Economics (PhD abd).
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