Demand of U.S citizens for unemployment claims dropped by 22,000 in the week ending February 23, reaching seasonally adjusted figure of 344,000. The 4-week moving average was 355,000, showing 6,750 decrease from the last week`s adjusted average of 361,750. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate decreased 0.1% from 2.4% revised prior week. The figure for people who received unemployment aid contracted from 3,165,000 to 3,074,000 in the week ending February 16.
"It's still a moderate recovery when looking at growth but I think there's a little bit of momentum in the job market," said Kevin Cummins, an economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, whose forecast of 345,000 was the lowest in the Bloomberg survey. The labor market is "moving in the right direction."