U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Edged Up in the Week of March 21

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 5,000 to 210,000 in the week ending March 21, from an unrevised level of 205,000 in the week ending March 14. The four-week average declined 250 to 210,500 in the March 21 week from the unrevised average of 210,750 in the prior week. The Forecast Survey looked for 210,000 claims to have been filed.

The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries—also known as “continuing claims”—declined by 32,000 to 1.819 million in the week ending March 14, from 1.851 million in the week ending March 7 revised from 1.857 million. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since May 25, 2024, when it was 1,804 million. The four-week moving average stood at 1.847 million, a decline of 2,000 from 1.849 million in the week ended March 7. This is the lowest level for this average since October 5, 2024, when it was 1,846 million. The insured unemployment rate remained at 1.2% in the week of March 14. 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 March 7, the highest unemployment rates were in Rhode Island (3.00%), New Jersey (2.80%), Massachusetts (2.70%), Washington (2.40%), Minnesota (2.30%), California (2.20%), New York and Illinois (both 2.10%), Montana (2.07%) and Michigan and Montana (both 2.00%). The lowest rates were in Florida and Louisiana (both 0.30%), and Arkansas, Alabama and North Carolina (all 0.40%). Rates in other notable states include Connecticut (1.90%), Pennsylvania (1.80%), and Texas (1.10%). These state data are not seasonally adjusted.

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.