REPEAT: MNI DATA ANALYSIS: US Jobless Claims Fall To 222,000>

Repeats Story Initially Transmitted at 13:30 GMT Feb 22/08:30 EST Feb 22

By Sara Haire and Holly Stokes

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - Initial claims U.S. state unemployment benefits 

fell by 7,000 to 222,000 in the February 17 employment survey week, well 

below the 230,000 level expected, data released by the Labor Department 

Thursday showed. 

     Claims were up 6,000 from the level of 216,000 in the January 13 

employment survey week, a small rise, with very little indication as to 

what the February payrolls will come in as on March 9. 

     The four-week moving average for initial claims, a better measure 

of the underlying trend of the data, fell by 2,250 to 226,000 in the 

February 17 week, down 17,500 from the 243,500 level in the January 13 

survey week. If the number of headline claims does not change next week 

and there are no revisions to data from the past four weeks, the 

four-week average will fall by 2,000 as the 230,000 level in the January 

27 week rolls out of the calculation. 

     Seasonal adjustment factors had expected an decrease of 5.1%, or 

11,927, in unadjusted claims in the week. Instead, unadjusted claims 

fell by 19,477 (8.4%) to 213,328. The current week's level is far below 

the 239,322 level in the comparable week a year ago. 

     The level of continuing claims fell by 73,000 to 1.875 million in 

the February 10 week, possibly reflecting that laid off holiday workers 

are continuing to find new work, further indicating a tight labor 

market. This is the largest decline in at least the past year.

     The seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate dropped to 1.3% 

in the February 10 week, after rising and hovering to 1.4% for the last 

five weeks. The current week's rate is down from 1.5% in the same week a 

year earlier. 

     The unemployment rate among the insured labor force is well below 

that reported monthly by the Labor Department because claims are 

approved for the most part only for job losers, not the job leavers and 

labor force reentrants included in the monthly report.