WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – U.S. jobless claims fell in the week to February 26 to 215,000 from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Economists expected an average of 225,000 jobless claims after the 232,000 initially announced for the week to February 19.
The four-week moving average is back at 230,500 after 236,500 (revised) the previous week.
The number of people regularly receiving benefits, however, increased slightly to 1.476 million during the week to February 19 (the last week for which these figures are available) against 1.474 million the previous week.
In addition, a survey by the firm specializing in recruitment and reclassification Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that American companies announced 15,245 job cuts in February, a figure down 20% compared to January and 56% on a year.
The companies also announced last month their intention to recruit 215,127 people, the highest figure recorded for a month of February since the creation of the survey in 2002, specifies Challenger.
(Report Lucia Mutikani, French version Marc Angrand)
click here for restrictions
©2022 Reuters