(Steve Benen at Rachel Maddow Blog)
The Department of Labor
announced this morning that seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits for the week ending March 17 were 348,000. It was a drop of 5,000 from the previous week's revised number of 353,000. The four-week running average, which most analysts prefer because it flattens volatility in the weekly figure, was 355,000, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 356,250.
Both numbers are around the four-year lows they have maintained for several weeks. They are now at their lowest level since March 1, 2008.
For the week ending March 3, the number of Americans claiming benefits in state and federally extended programs was 7,281,541, a decrease of 142,499 from the previous week.
That number is expected to begin a sharp decline as a result of a payroll tax cut deal struck in Congress that will reduce the maximum number of weeks out-of-work people can collect benefits in the states worst hit by the economic downturn from 99 weeks to 63 weeks by September.
While the unemployment claims have been good news now for nearly four months, and job growth has averaged 245,000 a month for the past three months, long-term unemployment remains severe, with 43 percent of the 12.8 million jobless Americans having been out of work for more than six months, a post-World War II record.