A day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in flat in the week ended February 28th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims came in at 213,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level.
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average fell to 215,750, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average of 220,500.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, increased by 46,000 to 1.868 million in the week ended February 21st.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose to 1,851,500, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,844,750.