Financial News: U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To Two-Month

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To Two-Month Low

03/19/2026 - 10:09:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 14th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 205,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 213,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000.

With the unexpected decline, initial jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 201,000 in the week ended January 10th.

"The latest jobless claims figures are consistent with our view that while labor-market conditions have stabilized and layoffs appear to remain low, the US/Israel war with Iran has made the no-hire, no-fire labor market more vulnerable," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

She added, "We think downside risks to the labor market leave the Fed on track to lower rates twice this year with the first cut coming in June."

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 210,750, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average of 211,500.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 10,000 to 1.857 million in the week ended March 7th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still slipped to 1,850,500, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1,852,500.

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